Open world, definitely! I want my town to progress, want to see what the other sims in town are doing with their lives. I don´t want to play the whole town just to have the impression of progression! I want my time to be moved, want to see the progress my town makes. Unlike in Sims 2 and 4 where no progression is made without the player´s work, that´s boring in my opinion! And I want to follow my family members wherever they go and jump from one to the other to see what they are doing! But with better routing and coding, please!
Open world with a perfect game engine that would support what I and others really want to have in our open worlds, with a team that is fully enthusiastic and knowledgeable and able to develop the open world and engine to be able to support what we want in a perfect game that is not glitched, bug infested and offers the potentials for awesome game play and interactions between the sims and the world and the environment and their dishwashers!!! (not their pockets) I CAN dream ya know....I know it will not happen.
Open world, absolutely! I really liked Sims 2, but not being open was the one thing that bothered me about it, and why I didn't fully get into that game like I wanted to. It felt restrictive to me. I picked out this computer specifically so I could enjoy the freedom and openness, so why would I give that up?
Apparently, this was posted in TS4, look at the answers. Then this got moved to TS3 and again look at the answers.
Well, this proves the divide. But which group of supporters were/are the majority that kept The Sims franchise alive and kicking?
Obviously, I would pick open world as I grew up with a closed world so why would I want future features to go back to having limitied freedom. I enjoy.
-No loading screens to break immersion
-Visiting neighbors, friends, family
-Following Sims, while walking, jogging, biking, driving, carpooling, etc
-Following Sims around town to see simulation of life
-Etc
“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter”
Open world all the way. My sim had to collect gems in Egypt and that took her everywhere. Can't tell you how utterly important that is to me, her wandering through that world, coming across ruins, forrests of palm trees, a snake crawling in the sand, at one point reaching the sea, a hidden piramid somewhere in a valley of sand. And then, when she had collected three out of four and there was little time left before she had to return home, I simply teleported her to the other side of the world, after which she had time to have dinner in her client's house after delivering the turquoise. There simply is no downside for me, I love the open world and when it gets in the way it's so simple to find a way around it.
> @JoAnne65 said:
> Open world all the way. My sim had to collect gems in Egypt and that took her everywhere. Can't tell you how utterly important that is to me, her wandering through that world, coming across ruins, forrests of palm trees, a snake crawling in the sand, at one point reaching the sea, a hidden piramid somewhere in a valley of sand. And then, when she had collected three out of four and there was little time left before she had to return home, I simply teleported her to the other side of the world, after which she had time to have dinner in her client's house after delivering the turquoise. There simply is no downside for me, I love the open world and when it gets in the way it's so simple to find a way around it.
Thanks for the comment!
You're welcome Thought of something else that occurred by the way. It was night and my sim was asleep in the camp, together with quite a few other adventurers, when I suddenly saw a woman, walking down the road, 4 in the morning. I returned to speed 1 and followed her, all the way home to her house. I must be daft but I so enjoyed that It gave me the sense of being in a real world. My sim sleeping there in a tent under the starry sky, being a tourist in this foreign land, this foreign culture she was starting to fall in love with, dreaming, and then this woman who was born and raised here walking there for some reason. She must have had a reason, she didn't come out of a can of bit-players. I followed her all the way to her house, which she entered and when she closed the door it was morning and I returned to my sim who was ready for breakfast.
I so agree with this. If you could give you a 1000 Awesome's, I would....
Open world for me all the way which is the reason why I haven't brought TS4 and I have no intentions to ever buy TS4. I'm sure that the game is fun to play for those who don't like the open world and that's fine that if they do and it's fine if I like what I like to play. If I want to play a game with loading screens, then I would go and play my TS2 UC as I know that is a complete game for me. At least I know with TS2, we have cars that our Sims can get into and sit or drive out of their driveway and to the edge of their lot instead of them just teleporting to God knows where.
In TS3, I can see where my Sims go to and I can spy on other Sims while my sim is doing other things. Or I can go and take pretty scenery shots while my sim is either working on their career or working on their skills or sleeping. I can go and visit other Sims homes without the loading screens. The only loading screens that I don't mind is when my Sims go on vacation to other worlds and back. My Sims world feels more alive in the open world than it does in a closed world/neighborhood setting. I can send my Sims anywhere in the world unlike in TS4 with those fake backdrops that don't do nothing for me.
Take this picture for an example. I can get on that boat and go out to that island and explore around it...
Now my SS is on the island talking to one of her classmates at the university...
So if EA wants me to me to buy their next generation of the Sims, then they need to come up with a way to have somewhat of an open world for me to explore or I won't be buying anymore Sims games as I will just keep playing TS3 and enjoying the open world and being able to spy on other Sims and to be able to take pretty awesome scenery pictures of the world...
Open world all the way. If there's a TS5 and it doesn't have open world, I won't buy it, just like I didn't buy TS4 (although it was for a ton of reasons, not merely the lack of an open world although that was one of the biggest faux pas).
I want to game like it's 2017, not 1999. No, I don't have the biggest, fastest, most expensive rig but it is for gaming. I'm not asking for the absolute latest and most demanding graphics options, like 8K (!!!) video and so forth. You want to see what's possible? Look up some videos on YouTube of The Witcher 3 in 4K or 8K. TS5 doesn't have to be like that but for goodness sake don't make it look like a cheap phone app.
I'm a Ts4 player but I also go back to TS3 from time to time (in fact I'm currently going through a TS3 phase). And one of the main reasons I do is TS3 worlds. They're by far the best in the franchise, and the fact that they're open is just one of the reasons. That's why I said I could live with semi open worlds (still more open than what we have in Ts4 which is a joke), if necessary, as long as the rest of the issues with TS4 worlds are addressed.
I've been thinking about this today and in my opinion there are so many things that are wrong with Ts4 worlds. I think they're even worse than TS2 neighborhoods. Why?
1. Closed worlds. Enough has been said about this.
2. Completely disconnected districts. Even if worlds are closed, they could have at least come up with a proper neighborhood view and proper neighborhoods with more than 4 lots. I just have no way of knowing e.g. how the different districts in willow creek are connected to each other. How do you get from the commercial district to the sage estates? You'll never know. One of the things I love about TS3 is zooming out of my sims' house and see the whole neighborhood. That was even possible in TS2. The current district system feels claustrophobic.
3. Completely disconnected worlds. I know this is not an issue for many players but it is for me. We have a desert world that looks like it's somewhere in Arizona, a New Orleans world and an European/German town, and a city that's a total mess (mix of Tokyo, New York, etc). Yet sims can teleport to any of those places in literally no time. They pick up their phone at 9:30AM in willow Creek and they're in the middle of Windenburg at 9:30AM. It kills the immersion and the time management aspect of the game.
4. And of course, customization. Or the lack thereof. I'm so sick of the current worlds. They're so predetermined, it kills creativity. It's a pity, because some of the best TS3 worlds are custom worlds. Some of them are breathtaking. And even if you play on Ea's worlds, you can customize the basic look of your town (e.g. rabbit holes). The backdrops in TS4 are so limiting it's frustrating to try and build an original town that doesn't fit the predetermined idea EA imposed on us.
I am so torn between the two. I am kind of leaning toward open world. I really liked the open world from TS3, but the rabbitholes are frustrating. I have played TS2 and the closed world concept and the loading screens are frustrating to go through, but I feel like TS2 has more to offer. It is nice to sit down at a restaurant, or pick something at the store, or go to the spa and get a massage.
I say that TS2 can be more personal, but TS3 is much better for the community as a whole. In TS2 I have found that there is no incentive to pick another world because to me they are all the same because you can only go to one lot at a time. Whereas in TS3, there is so much more diversity because you can interact with the world as a whole and you can even multitask between different sims. I don't think there would be any incentive to making the workplace an interactive lot; it never was in TS2.
I want to see hotels make a comeback. There just wasn't something right with the resorts from TS3. Maybe if TS5 had some kind of way to make an open world, but only have one (or a few) active lot at a time. Also whatever they do, they have got to incorporate the ability to visit other worlds without actually moving there. I think TS4 introduced that ability.
Apparently, this was posted in TS4, look at the answers. Then this got moved to TS3 and again look at the answers.
Well, this proves the divide. But which group of supporters were/are the majority that kept The Sims franchise alive and kicking?
Obviously, I would pick open world as I grew up with a closed world so why would I want future features to go back to having limitied freedom. I enjoy.
-No loading screens to break immersion
-Visiting neighbors, friends, family
-Following Sims, while walking, jogging, biking, driving, carpooling, etc
-Following Sims around town to see simulation of life
-Etc
I think the divide is part of a defense system. It's not in Sims 4, Sims 4 gets criticized over it, so open world is unrequired. Just like shorter teens and toddlers (yes, those were slated as well by many, it was a good thing Sims 4 didn't have that annoying life stage). I don't buy it to be honest. I mean, I understand people don't long for borky worlds with bad routing, but nobody wants that. But even IP runs fine for me with NRaas and the required adjustments so far. So the bad installment of (some of the) Sims 3 worlds is no reason to reject the open world concept in general.
Apparently, this was posted in TS4, look at the answers. Then this got moved to TS3 and again look at the answers.
Well, this proves the divide. But which group of supporters were/are the majority that kept The Sims franchise alive and kicking?
Obviously, I would pick open world as I grew up with a closed world so why would I want future features to go back to having limitied freedom. I enjoy.
-No loading screens to break immersion
-Visiting neighbors, friends, family
-Following Sims, while walking, jogging, biking, driving, carpooling, etc
-Following Sims around town to see simulation of life
-Etc
I think the divide is part of a defense system. It's not in Sims 4, Sims 4 gets criticized over it, so open world is unrequired. Just like shorter teens and toddlers (yes, those were slated as well by many, it was a good thing Sims 4 didn't have that annoying life stage). I don't buy it to be honest. I mean, I understand people don't long for borky worlds with bad routing, but nobody wants that. But even IP runs fine for me with NRaas and the required adjustments so far. So the bad installment of (some of the) Sims 3 worlds is no reason to reject the open world concept in general.
I think they're just fooling themselves. I mean I like TS4 and I have played 1700+ hours but I know its limitations and sadly the way worlds are designed is one of its biggest problems (and one that will probably never be addressed). That's why I need to go back to TS3 from time to time. Because I miss the open world feeling and the sense of community. I love e.g. that I can send some of my teens to the coffeehouse to grab a coffee before school without losing control of the rest of the family. Who wouldn't want that? Of course nobody wants lag, and I'm sure with today's technology there are ways to make it work even if some compromises have to be made...
Open world all the way. If there's a TS5 and it doesn't have open world, I wont' buy it, just like I didn't buy TS4 (although it was for a ton of reasons, not merely the lack of an open world although that was one of the biggest faux pas).
I am with you. I have been bickering of no open world in TS4 since before it was released . Up until today I still won't touch TS4 let alone buying it.
No offense to the people who like it though, some of my friends enjoy playing it. However it's not my cup of tea. I have been waiting for 3 years, I will wait for another year or two for TS5. If there is still no open world in TS5, then I will say bye bye forever to this franchise.
Apparently, this was posted in TS4, look at the answers. Then this got moved to TS3 and again look at the answers.
Well, this proves the divide. But which group of supporters were/are the majority that kept The Sims franchise alive and kicking?
Obviously, I would pick open world as I grew up with a closed world so why would I want future features to go back to having limitied freedom. I enjoy.
-No loading screens to break immersion
-Visiting neighbors, friends, family
-Following Sims, while walking, jogging, biking, driving, carpooling, etc
-Following Sims around town to see simulation of life
-Etc
I think the divide is part of a defense system. It's not in Sims 4, Sims 4 gets criticized over it, so open world is unrequired. Just like shorter teens and toddlers (yes, those were slated as well by many, it was a good thing Sims 4 didn't have that annoying life stage). I don't buy it to be honest. I mean, I understand people don't long for borky worlds with bad routing, but nobody wants that. But even IP runs fine for me with NRaas and the required adjustments so far. So the bad installment of (some of the) Sims 3 worlds is no reason to reject the open world concept in general.
I think they're just fooling themselves. I mean I like TS4 and I have played 1700+ hours but I know its limitations and sadly the way worlds are designed is one of its biggest problems (and one that will probably never be addressed). That's why I need to go back to TS3 from time to time. Because I miss the open world feeling and the sense of community. I love e.g. that I can send some of my teens to the coffeehouse to grab a coffee before school without losing control of the rest of the family. Who wouldn't want that? Of course nobody wants lag, and I'm sure with today's technology there are ways to make it work even if some compromises have to be made...
I do appreciate by the way there are players who genuinely prefer a divided world to a huge open world like TS3 has. That doesn't have to include loading screens between every lot though, and teleporting, and no real map. Even in Sims 2 there was a real map. The house you saw in the background you could really go to, even when it involved a loading screen. I was amazed, when I took my sims to Twikii Island (I have the UC, I had never played Sims 2 before 2014), that I could see the hotel in the background when I took them to a ruin, and the ruin when I took them back to the hotel. For me in fact the fakeness of the backdrops is even a bigger problem than a loading screen.
Apparently, this was posted in TS4, look at the answers. Then this got moved to TS3 and again look at the answers.
Well, this proves the divide. But which group of supporters were/are the majority that kept The Sims franchise alive and kicking?
Obviously, I would pick open world as I grew up with a closed world so why would I want future features to go back to having limitied freedom. I enjoy.
-No loading screens to break immersion
-Visiting neighbors, friends, family
-Following Sims, while walking, jogging, biking, driving, carpooling, etc
-Following Sims around town to see simulation of life
-Etc
I think the divide is part of a defense system. It's not in Sims 4, Sims 4 gets criticized over it, so open world is unrequired. Just like shorter teens and toddlers (yes, those were slated as well by many, it was a good thing Sims 4 didn't have that annoying life stage). I don't buy it to be honest. I mean, I understand people don't long for borky worlds with bad routing, but nobody wants that. But even IP runs fine for me with NRaas and the required adjustments so far. So the bad installment of (some of the) Sims 3 worlds is no reason to reject the open world concept in general.
I think they're just fooling themselves. I mean I like TS4 and I have played 1700+ hours but I know its limitations and sadly the way worlds are designed is one of its biggest problems (and one that will probably never be addressed). That's why I need to go back to TS3 from time to time. Because I miss the open world feeling and the sense of community. I love e.g. that I can send some of my teens to the coffeehouse to grab a coffee before school without losing control of the rest of the family. Who wouldn't want that? Of course nobody wants lag, and I'm sure with today's technology there are ways to make it work even if some compromises have to be made...
I do appreciate by the way there are players who genuinely prefer a divided world to a huge open world like TS3 has. That doesn't have to include loading screens between every lot though, and teleporting, and no real map. Even in Sims 2 there was a real map. The house you saw in the background you could really go to, even when it involved a loading screen. I was amazed, when I took my sims to Twikii Island (I have the UC, I had never played Sims 2 before 2014), that I could see the hotel in the background when I took them to a ruin, and the ruin when I took them back to the hotel. For me in fact the fakeness of the backdrops is even a bigger problem than a loading screen.
Thank you...
And again, I agree with what you said right here about TS2. TS2 was my first Sims game that I ever played in my life and I fell in love with it. Then I moved to TS3 and fell in love with that game as well... I do find myself going to play TS2 but not as long like I used to because I went to back with TS3. I remember just right around the time that Island Paradise was getting ready to come out, I went back to TS2 and picked out the Twikii Island map to be able to build a beach town for my Sims to live in. I started out plopping down about 3 big beach front lots that was to serve as the boardwalks and then 2-3 smaller beach lots that what was to serve as residential lots. Then across the street from the boardwalks was to be a community lot that was going to be an outdoor recreational center for the Sims to visit. I never did get that finished as my older PC that I had at the time died on me and I needed a new one to play the Sims on.
Of course I'm sure that if had of started playing the Sims starting with TS4 and then decided to try out TS3 after seeing all of the awesome pictures that I still would had fallen in with TS3 and it's open world...
> @JoAnne65 said:
> Open world all the way. My sim had to collect gems in Egypt and that took her everywhere. Can't tell you how utterly important that is to me, her wandering through that world, coming across ruins, forrests of palm trees, a snake crawling in the sand, at one point reaching the sea, a hidden piramid somewhere in a valley of sand. And then, when she had collected three out of four and there was little time left before she had to return home, I simply teleported her to the other side of the world, after which she had time to have dinner in her client's house after delivering the turquoise. There simply is no downside for me, I love the open world and when it gets in the way it's so simple to find a way around it.
Thanks for the comment!
You're welcome Thought of something else that occurred by the way. It was night and my sim was asleep in the camp, together with quite a few other adventurers, when I suddenly saw a woman, walking down the road, 4 in the morning. I returned to speed 1 and followed her, all the way home to her house. I must be daft but I so enjoyed that It gave me the sense of being in a real world. My sim sleeping there in a tent under the starry sky, being a tourist in this foreign land, this foreign culture she was starting to fall in love with, dreaming, and then this woman who was born and raised here walking there for some reason. She must have had a reason, she didn't come out of a can of bit-players. I followed her all the way to her house, which she entered and when she closed the door it was morning and I returned to my sim who was ready for breakfast.
I'd like to support this description with the pictures, because it illustrates the beauty and greatness of open world in general and Al Simhara in particular (wanted to do this yesterday but unfortunately Photobucket wouldn't allow me to upload).
(you can see her entering the screen in the left down corner, passing by the camp where my sim is sleeping)
So I know where she lives now, I'll make sure to visit her some day
@JoAnne65 I am curious to know just what she had been doing in the desert at night. Is she a nefarious sim up to no good with the dreaded Morcu Corp, or is she an adventurer living out her dreams? I think it is so awesome that we can go right up to those ruins in the background and play and explore to our hearts content and not have to be denied because it is a backdrop, an illusion, a distortion in the game play experience. Just seeing those pictures gives me so many ideas of adding one sim to a story line and the settings to use in that story and being able to send the sims there.....priceless!!
Even if I got into Sims 4 and enjoy playing it occasionaly, the closed world drives me bonkers. What´s worse, is that I lose control over the sims who stay at home, when I leave with one sim to visit the library or something, and it´s not even possible to let them do something usefull, while I´m gone. I´m not really a control freak, but I want my sims to at least read a book or do the dishes, not hibernate until I return. I feel trapped in those candy bright can-not-touch towns of Sims 4 (seriously, this "crossed circle" is getting on my nerves). It bothers me, that I see sims from one town suddenly running around in the other one (don´t you have a job, Bob Pancakes?).
I always kind of take a great breath of relief, when I return to Sims 3 open world. Real freedom, to do anything I want, whenever I want.
Concerning performance of Sims 3: I don´t have a gaming pc, I have a solid, three year old desktop, which admittedly only has to run the Sims games. I have all the expansions, most of the stuff packs and a lot of store objects, very few CC. It takes about two minutes to load the game, another three to five minutes to load a save. I have sometimes some minor lag. When I visit a lot, sims come flocking to it. My graphics settings are from middle to high, which only bothers me, when I see pictures on this forum from people with a much better grapic card .
I do have some of NRaas mods which helps with the performance (thanks, as always ), but my point is, you don´t actually need a really high end gaming rig to play a stable Sims 3 game. With the ongoing evolution in computer technology, I don´t see, why a open world for a Sims 5 (if there ever is one) should be a problem.
@JoAnne65 I am curious to know just what she had been doing in the desert at night. Is she a nefarious sim up to no good with the dreaded Morcu Corp, or is she an adventurer living out her dreams? I think it is so awesome that we can go right up to those ruins in the background and play and explore to our hearts content and not have to be denied because it is a backdrop, an illusion, a distortion in the game play experience. Just seeing those pictures gives me so many ideas of adding one sim to a story line and the settings to use in that story and being able to send the sims there.....priceless!!
Lol, yes, indeed. She definitely isn't an adventurer because she lives in that house, mmmm..... Maybe my sim will cross her path in her assisting role against (or for at one point) Morcu Corp I see a patio in her house and I remember a tomb underneath a house with a patio.... We might be on to something!!
And 100% agreed! Like the Sphinx that you not only can visit but who hides so many secrets my sim is still unaware of...
I'm in the process of buying a new computer as my current one has decided to go into Exorcist Mode. As a result, I've pulled my dusty, old back-up PC out of the closet until the new one arrives. I only installed five EPs on my old rig but I'm still really enjoying my game and a major part of that is the wonder and beauty of the open world environment.
Open world.
For many of the reasons already stated by others. It's fun to explore the open world, makes the town seem more alive/realistic, and it's nice to actually take your sims off their lot & around the town.
S3 is the first full sims game that I've played (I played some GBA & mobile phone versions of Sims before S3), but I have played a lot of other games in various genres & styles, and frankly the open world in S3 seems perfectly natural to me, I can't imagine what a "closed world" experience would be like in S3.
I mean sim is short for simulation. In a lot of video games you click an object or something similar to go to a new location (level) via "magic" (the game loads the new level), and while that's mostly because of the real world practicalities of video game evolution, it's hardly realistic.
So I think the open world fits the Sims very well, since it adds realism to the simulated world.
As the technology to make & play games progresses, "open world" games are becoming more common & more standard, too.
So I think having open world in Sims is also keeping up with modern gaming in general, so that the Sims doesn't become outdated or backward feeling as the series goes on.
That is one of the complaints I've seen about S4, players feeling that going from S3's open world to S4's closed world is/was a step backward and, objectively, it is. Whether the S4 or S3 world system is better or worse than the other is subjective, but in game evolution terms, a closed world is a step backward from an open world, just as 2d graphics would be a step backward from 3d graphics.
I prefer open... Though more than open vs closed, my gripe is with the lack of customization in s4. I can't create my own world, I can't download other people's worlds. That just sucks. I'm stuck forever with the fridge EA stocked up. I have to eat the food in that fridge till I die, without ever going grocery shopping. I hope in the future they will have open worlds. If they are really THAT concerned about performance, they can make it semi closed (no loading screens between buildings in the same area). The way it is now (loading screen for every lot), it makes me not want to go outside. Anyway, they have to have a CAW tool for me to really enjoy it.
I just hate the idea of being stuck with EA worlds forever.
I could somewhat "handle" TS4's closed world until I bought CL. At first, I found it amazing. Then I noticed "people" walking in the background. And I wanted to go there, take a closer look at them. But I couldn't, because they were just a fake backdrop. How many times have you seen this in The Sims 3? None. Because the open world doesn't need it.
That is one of the complaints I've seen about S4, players feeling that going from S3's open world to S4's closed world is/was a step backward and, objectively, it is.
It's not objective. With open world, players waste many sim hours doing nothing that has little to do with gameplay, like watching sims drive to and fro from places or wait for elevators and get trapped in them. To me, that was a huge step backwards because so much of this kind of stuff ate into gameplay. In a game about sims, why should waiting for elevators or driving from here to there take up something like 30% of what you do in-game? It doesn't make sense. Okay, I'm playing a game about sims but...they have to work. Okay, let me watch them wait for the elevator...go down the elevator...leave the lobby...wait for the cab...drive to work for a whole sim hour...get out of the car...walk to the door of the rabbithole.
This travel also ate into your sims' time, too. You only have so much time in any sim day to work, complete chores, take care of the family and go to venues and parties. With open world, all of this travel time takes away from what little time you have to do anything.
Also, with open world, whatever households you played were stuck in that one town forever, with no ability to travel back and forth between towns or move and not lose relationships. If you loved the new towns that came with IP or Ambitions or whatever and wanted your sims to move there (or just visit) but still be able to keep their friendships, it was all or nothing.
Lastly, there were always issues with performance. Many people experienced empty venues because their systems couldn't handle how intensive open world was. To compensate, the game had to reduce the number of sims that showed up anywhere.
How is this all "objectively better" than the system we have now? It's not.
And no disrespect intended, but just know that you're giving yourself away as someone who hasn't played TS4 extensively, if at all. It's obvious. If you did, you'd understand that TS4 has certain flaws (just like open world had its flaws) but that in many ways it solved a lot of the problems that many of us had with open world. Because it did, you can't assert that it's "objectively worse" or a "step back." It's your subjective opinion (based on little personal experience with TS4, it seems) that TS4 is a step back. Not an objective reality.
@ts1depot There are countless ways to basically eliminate travelling times. For example, I placed llamas (the TARDIS-thingy from supernatural) on the most crucial points in town: school, work etc. Or the subway. Or the hot air balloon from the Store. Or if you want it to work like it does in TS4, then Ctrl+Shift+Teleport here.
And as for the empty lots, take a look at Riverview. I don't have a very good gaming PC, but the venues are never empty.
Thanks for everyone who has replied in the thread since I lost posted in here, obviously I am not posting as much due to being reduced to 'new member' status
Also TS1depo I fail to see what you see as obvious about this thread. The only thing I see is a large favouritism towards the Open World which may explain why it was easier to move this thread into the TS3 GD which will only give less closed world players a chance to see the thread and give their vote anyway. I have been reduced to nothing on this forum so I am not looking for another fight :(
That is one of the complaints I've seen about S4, players feeling that going from S3's open world to S4's closed world is/was a step backward and, objectively, it is.
It's not objective. With open world, players waste many sim hours doing nothing that has little to do with gameplay, like watching sims drive to and fro from places or wait for elevators and get trapped in them. To me, that was a huge step backwards because so much of this kind of stuff ate into gameplay. In a game about sims, why should waiting for elevators or driving from here to there take up something like 30% of what you do in-game? It doesn't make sense. Okay, I'm playing a game about sims but...they have to work. Okay, let me watch them wait for the elevator...go down the elevator...leave the lobby...wait for the cab...drive to work for a whole sim hour...get out of the car...walk to the door of the rabbithole.
This travel also ate into your sims' time, too. You only have so much time in any sim day to work, complete chores, take care of the family and go to venues and parties. With open world, all of this travel time takes away from what little time you have to do anything.
Also, with open world, whatever households you played were stuck in that one town forever, with no ability to travel back and forth between towns or move and not lose relationships. If you loved the new towns that came with IP or Ambitions or whatever and wanted your sims to move there (or just visit) but still be able to keep their friendships, it was all or nothing.
Lastly, there were always issues with performance. Many people experienced empty venues because their systems couldn't handle how intensive open world was. To compensate, the game had to reduce the number of sims that showed up anywhere.
How is this all "objectively better" than the system we have now? It's not.
And no disrespect intended, but just know that you're giving yourself away as someone who hasn't played TS4 extensively, if at all. It's obvious. If you did, you'd understand that TS4 has certain flaws (just like open world had its flaws) but that in many ways it solved a lot of the problems that many of us had with open world. Because it did, you can't assert that it's "objectively worse" or a "step back." It's your subjective opinion (based on little personal experience with TS4, it seems) that TS4 is a step back. Not an objective reality.
My niece loves watching her sim drive across town in his fancy car to work. (She's 12). Isn't that gameplay? Get up, breakfast, shower, go to work? Take your car or a taxi? What's not gameplay about that?
Teleport, well you can do that, no problem. That's how it works in Sims 4. Disappear off the lot. Not much gameplay there. Disappear into a rabbit hole for work? What's the difference between that and disappearing off the screen?
After work my sim doesn't have to come right home, poof back on the lot. I can send him anywhere in town. Stop off to get a book and then go to the park and read it while it's still a bit sunny. Meet up with some friends and hit one of the clubs, all without multi loading screens. And I have never experienced empty venues.
TS4 is a step backward. At least for me. And yes, I do own it and yes, I have played it. It's the lack of open world and create-a-style and basics like terrain tools and vehicles that made me stop playing it.
Comments
I want my town to progress, want to see what the other sims in town are doing with their lives. I don´t want to play the whole town just to have the impression of progression! I want my time to be moved, want to see the progress my town makes. Unlike in Sims 2 and 4 where no progression is made without the player´s work, that´s boring in my opinion!
And I want to follow my family members wherever they go and jump from one to the other to see what they are doing!
But with better routing and coding, please!
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/953447/streuner-a-cat-s-tale
The Cowboy and the Mermaid
Well, this proves the divide. But which group of supporters were/are the majority that kept The Sims franchise alive and kicking?
Obviously, I would pick open world as I grew up with a closed world so why would I want future features to go back to having limitied freedom. I enjoy.
-No loading screens to break immersion
-Visiting neighbors, friends, family
-Following Sims, while walking, jogging, biking, driving, carpooling, etc
-Following Sims around town to see simulation of life
-Etc
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter”
I so agree with this. If you could give you a 1000 Awesome's, I would....
Open world for me all the way which is the reason why I haven't brought TS4 and I have no intentions to ever buy TS4. I'm sure that the game is fun to play for those who don't like the open world and that's fine that if they do and it's fine if I like what I like to play. If I want to play a game with loading screens, then I would go and play my TS2 UC as I know that is a complete game for me. At least I know with TS2, we have cars that our Sims can get into and sit or drive out of their driveway and to the edge of their lot instead of them just teleporting to God knows where.
In TS3, I can see where my Sims go to and I can spy on other Sims while my sim is doing other things. Or I can go and take pretty scenery shots while my sim is either working on their career or working on their skills or sleeping. I can go and visit other Sims homes without the loading screens. The only loading screens that I don't mind is when my Sims go on vacation to other worlds and back. My Sims world feels more alive in the open world than it does in a closed world/neighborhood setting. I can send my Sims anywhere in the world unlike in TS4 with those fake backdrops that don't do nothing for me.
Take this picture for an example. I can get on that boat and go out to that island and explore around it...
Now my SS is on the island talking to one of her classmates at the university...
So if EA wants me to me to buy their next generation of the Sims, then they need to come up with a way to have somewhat of an open world for me to explore or I won't be buying anymore Sims games as I will just keep playing TS3 and enjoying the open world and being able to spy on other Sims and to be able to take pretty awesome scenery pictures of the world...
http://store.thesims3.com/myWishlist.html?persona=lisasc360
My stories on this site:
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/991317/my-sims-stories/p1?new=1
I want to game like it's 2017, not 1999. No, I don't have the biggest, fastest, most expensive rig but it is for gaming. I'm not asking for the absolute latest and most demanding graphics options, like 8K (!!!) video and so forth. You want to see what's possible? Look up some videos on YouTube of The Witcher 3 in 4K or 8K. TS5 doesn't have to be like that but for goodness sake don't make it look like a cheap phone app.
I've been thinking about this today and in my opinion there are so many things that are wrong with Ts4 worlds. I think they're even worse than TS2 neighborhoods. Why?
1. Closed worlds. Enough has been said about this.
2. Completely disconnected districts. Even if worlds are closed, they could have at least come up with a proper neighborhood view and proper neighborhoods with more than 4 lots. I just have no way of knowing e.g. how the different districts in willow creek are connected to each other. How do you get from the commercial district to the sage estates? You'll never know. One of the things I love about TS3 is zooming out of my sims' house and see the whole neighborhood. That was even possible in TS2. The current district system feels claustrophobic.
3. Completely disconnected worlds. I know this is not an issue for many players but it is for me. We have a desert world that looks like it's somewhere in Arizona, a New Orleans world and an European/German town, and a city that's a total mess (mix of Tokyo, New York, etc). Yet sims can teleport to any of those places in literally no time. They pick up their phone at 9:30AM in willow Creek and they're in the middle of Windenburg at 9:30AM. It kills the immersion and the time management aspect of the game.
4. And of course, customization. Or the lack thereof. I'm so sick of the current worlds. They're so predetermined, it kills creativity. It's a pity, because some of the best TS3 worlds are custom worlds. Some of them are breathtaking. And even if you play on Ea's worlds, you can customize the basic look of your town (e.g. rabbit holes). The backdrops in TS4 are so limiting it's frustrating to try and build an original town that doesn't fit the predetermined idea EA imposed on us.
I say that TS2 can be more personal, but TS3 is much better for the community as a whole. In TS2 I have found that there is no incentive to pick another world because to me they are all the same because you can only go to one lot at a time. Whereas in TS3, there is so much more diversity because you can interact with the world as a whole and you can even multitask between different sims. I don't think there would be any incentive to making the workplace an interactive lot; it never was in TS2.
I want to see hotels make a comeback. There just wasn't something right with the resorts from TS3. Maybe if TS5 had some kind of way to make an open world, but only have one (or a few) active lot at a time. Also whatever they do, they have got to incorporate the ability to visit other worlds without actually moving there. I think TS4 introduced that ability.
@lisasc360 Wholeheartedly returned the awesome!
I think they're just fooling themselves. I mean I like TS4 and I have played 1700+ hours but I know its limitations and sadly the way worlds are designed is one of its biggest problems (and one that will probably never be addressed). That's why I need to go back to TS3 from time to time. Because I miss the open world feeling and the sense of community. I love e.g. that I can send some of my teens to the coffeehouse to grab a coffee before school without losing control of the rest of the family. Who wouldn't want that? Of course nobody wants lag, and I'm sure with today's technology there are ways to make it work even if some compromises have to be made...
I am with you. I have been bickering of no open world in TS4 since before it was released
No offense to the people who like it though, some of my friends enjoy playing it. However it's not my cup of tea. I have been waiting for 3 years, I will wait for another year or two for TS5. If there is still no open world in TS5, then I will say bye bye forever to this franchise.
Thank you...
And again, I agree with what you said right here about TS2. TS2 was my first Sims game that I ever played in my life and I fell in love with it. Then I moved to TS3 and fell in love with that game as well...
Of course I'm sure that if had of started playing the Sims starting with TS4 and then decided to try out TS3 after seeing all of the awesome pictures that I still would had fallen in with TS3 and it's open world...
http://store.thesims3.com/myWishlist.html?persona=lisasc360
My stories on this site:
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/991317/my-sims-stories/p1?new=1
(you can see her entering the screen in the left down corner, passing by the camp where my sim is sleeping)
So I know where she lives now, I'll make sure to visit her some day
The Cowboy and the Mermaid
Even if I got into Sims 4 and enjoy playing it occasionaly, the closed world drives me bonkers. What´s worse, is that I lose control over the sims who stay at home, when I leave with one sim to visit the library or something, and it´s not even possible to let them do something usefull, while I´m gone. I´m not really a control freak, but I want my sims to at least read a book or do the dishes, not hibernate until I return. I feel trapped in those candy bright can-not-touch towns of Sims 4 (seriously, this "crossed circle" is getting on my nerves). It bothers me, that I see sims from one town suddenly running around in the other one (don´t you have a job, Bob Pancakes?).
I always kind of take a great breath of relief, when I return to Sims 3 open world. Real freedom, to do anything I want, whenever I want.
Concerning performance of Sims 3: I don´t have a gaming pc, I have a solid, three year old desktop, which admittedly only has to run the Sims games. I have all the expansions, most of the stuff packs and a lot of store objects, very few CC. It takes about two minutes to load the game, another three to five minutes to load a save. I have sometimes some minor lag. When I visit a lot, sims come flocking to it. My graphics settings are from middle to high, which only bothers me, when I see pictures on this forum from people with a much better grapic card
I do have some of NRaas mods which helps with the performance (thanks, as always
My studio: http://www.thesims3.com/mypage/WatrDragon/mystudio
Just assume that every edit I make is because of typos.
And 100% agreed! Like the Sphinx that you not only can visit but who hides so many secrets my sim is still unaware of...
I'm in the process of buying a new computer as my current one has decided to go into Exorcist Mode.
For many of the reasons already stated by others. It's fun to explore the open world, makes the town seem more alive/realistic, and it's nice to actually take your sims off their lot & around the town.
S3 is the first full sims game that I've played (I played some GBA & mobile phone versions of Sims before S3), but I have played a lot of other games in various genres & styles, and frankly the open world in S3 seems perfectly natural to me, I can't imagine what a "closed world" experience would be like in S3.
I mean sim is short for simulation. In a lot of video games you click an object or something similar to go to a new location (level) via "magic" (the game loads the new level), and while that's mostly because of the real world practicalities of video game evolution, it's hardly realistic.
So I think the open world fits the Sims very well, since it adds realism to the simulated world.
As the technology to make & play games progresses, "open world" games are becoming more common & more standard, too.
So I think having open world in Sims is also keeping up with modern gaming in general, so that the Sims doesn't become outdated or backward feeling as the series goes on.
That is one of the complaints I've seen about S4, players feeling that going from S3's open world to S4's closed world is/was a step backward and, objectively, it is. Whether the S4 or S3 world system is better or worse than the other is subjective, but in game evolution terms, a closed world is a step backward from an open world, just as 2d graphics would be a step backward from 3d graphics.
Enjoy!
I just hate the idea of being stuck with EA worlds forever.
It's not objective. With open world, players waste many sim hours doing nothing that has little to do with gameplay, like watching sims drive to and fro from places or wait for elevators and get trapped in them. To me, that was a huge step backwards because so much of this kind of stuff ate into gameplay. In a game about sims, why should waiting for elevators or driving from here to there take up something like 30% of what you do in-game? It doesn't make sense. Okay, I'm playing a game about sims but...they have to work. Okay, let me watch them wait for the elevator...go down the elevator...leave the lobby...wait for the cab...drive to work for a whole sim hour...get out of the car...walk to the door of the rabbithole.
This travel also ate into your sims' time, too. You only have so much time in any sim day to work, complete chores, take care of the family and go to venues and parties. With open world, all of this travel time takes away from what little time you have to do anything.
Also, with open world, whatever households you played were stuck in that one town forever, with no ability to travel back and forth between towns or move and not lose relationships. If you loved the new towns that came with IP or Ambitions or whatever and wanted your sims to move there (or just visit) but still be able to keep their friendships, it was all or nothing.
Lastly, there were always issues with performance. Many people experienced empty venues because their systems couldn't handle how intensive open world was. To compensate, the game had to reduce the number of sims that showed up anywhere.
How is this all "objectively better" than the system we have now? It's not.
And no disrespect intended, but just know that you're giving yourself away as someone who hasn't played TS4 extensively, if at all. It's obvious. If you did, you'd understand that TS4 has certain flaws (just like open world had its flaws) but that in many ways it solved a lot of the problems that many of us had with open world. Because it did, you can't assert that it's "objectively worse" or a "step back." It's your subjective opinion (based on little personal experience with TS4, it seems) that TS4 is a step back. Not an objective reality.
And as for the empty lots, take a look at Riverview. I don't have a very good gaming PC, but the venues are never empty.
Also TS1depo I fail to see what you see as obvious about this thread. The only thing I see is a large favouritism towards the Open World which may explain why it was easier to move this thread into the TS3 GD which will only give less closed world players a chance to see the thread and give their vote anyway. I have been reduced to nothing on this forum so I am not looking for another fight :(
My niece loves watching her sim drive across town in his fancy car to work. (She's 12). Isn't that gameplay? Get up, breakfast, shower, go to work? Take your car or a taxi? What's not gameplay about that?
Teleport, well you can do that, no problem. That's how it works in Sims 4. Disappear off the lot. Not much gameplay there. Disappear into a rabbit hole for work? What's the difference between that and disappearing off the screen?
After work my sim doesn't have to come right home, poof back on the lot. I can send him anywhere in town. Stop off to get a book and then go to the park and read it while it's still a bit sunny. Meet up with some friends and hit one of the clubs, all without multi loading screens. And I have never experienced empty venues.
TS4 is a step backward. At least for me. And yes, I do own it and yes, I have played it. It's the lack of open world and create-a-style and basics like terrain tools and vehicles that made me stop playing it.