Hi sims team. My hope for new content is a royalty themed pack. I’d love to see royal title headers like those for celebrities, and lots of awesome cas items. I understand if this is to close to the sims Mid evil and not possible, but this is why I hope for a more modern take on royal life. I’m lookin forward to seeing whatever comes next for Sims 4.
Well, first I gotta say that what makes me wish for a harder and deeper game is that it’s too easy to get rich, develop relationships, overcome negative emotions. We can’t tell much difference between how sims act and react to things, and much of what happens depends on the player’s input, turning the gameplay into more of a chore sometimes because of all the things we have to set up.
So here are some ways to tackle these issues:
Finances: • less starting funds; • sims earning less money from their jobs (salary and promotion bonuses) • making items more expensive; • players actually having to use cheap items in the beginning; • these are incentives to finding alternative sources of income (gardening, woodworking, odd jobs...) and adhering to restrictive conditions to reduce bills (micro homes, off the grid)
Personality, relationships and interactions: • likes and dislikes were a GREAT addition, and we can make them even better by including likes and dislikes regarding other sims, affecting how successful relationships can be – no interaction should be the same as the other; • traits need to affect gameplay even more, so special whims that are like challenges and can’t be canceled would be nice, whims with consequences if not completed within a time limit, like staying (notice the word stay, because whims related to places nowadays only ask us to visit them, and that’s too easy) in a bar for X hours and making Y new friends for an outgoing sim, and if you fail, that sim could get a massive negative moodlet (+50 tense or something) or even lose satisfaction points – the same concept could be used for life stages (midlife crisis) o another good example: snob sim wanting to build an additional floor or move to a wealthier neighborhood; • traits should be even more noticeable from the outside, so more unique social interactions, with NEW animations (looking at you, unflirty sims having the same animations with different names), interactions that could either be successful or not depending on who you’re interacting with • stealing someone else’s partner shouldn’t be so easy (level of commitment + likes & dislikes should be difficulty factors) • being forgiven should require more effort (I barely gift other sims, so that’s a feature that would get more attention) • new relationship statuses with unique interactions, like childhood friend • interactions related to recent events, such as having a good/bad meal, getting married/divorced, getting promoted/fired • story progression: it’s ok if it’s added as an optional feature, but not having to worry about families disappearing, leaving empty houses all over the place, being able to merge big family trees and going out with other sims to celebrate their own achievements would be really cool
Emotions: • Some emotions shouldn’t be overshadowed by drinking water and staying in a well decorated room, so the values need some refining • Wouldn’t mind having some of them be stronger at first (like, really strong, especially negative ones, f.i. grief over a family member) and then getting weaker over time – being incapable of finding a way around initially is important and realistic, I think, but wouldn’t want them to be strong till the end – being persistent, like always having that +2 sad because of a lost soulmate, or having a moodlet show up here and there would be cool tho • No more black or white: synergy between different emotions (possible combos: confident + flirty, confident + inspired, inspired + focused…) – this helps with preventing them to swing back and forth too, which is really annoying
I would like to see memories incorporated a little more in depth as it relates to sentiments. I’m thinking along the lines of Sims 2 memories where significant events (divorce, births, robberies) are recorded, and we can go back to see these events in the Sims’ panel. Much like the Hurt or Angry sentiment after a bad hike in Snowy Escape, it would be helpful to have a record of the exact event that caused these sentiments. It can be frustrating, in terms of gameplay, when your Sim is angry or hurt by someone, and you don’t even know what happened between them because it could have been a random, autonomous interaction. Memories would also be nice for remembering significant relationships in Sims’ lives, such as if a Sim remarries, they don’t lose total connection to a previous relationship.
Difficulty is overcoming the odds of failure. Can I fail at anything in Sims 4? I don't think I can.
-Career Can I fail at this? Not really. Ignore the prompts, gain the skills, and send them to work. Done.
-Relationships Will I ever fail at marrying my sim to the one I picked out? Nope. I can have them meet, date, and get married within a couple hours if I'm lazy about it. I'll never fail. Just spam friendly interactions, then romance ones. Doesn't really matter which ones you pick. Done.
-Aspirations Can't fail a tutorial checklist. Does it matter if I don't complete it anyway? Nope.
-Whims Sims don't care if I get that bee box or not.
-Money It's easy to gain money. Way way way too easy. Items are cheap too. I never fear the repoman.
-Emotions Your family member died. Your spouse cheated. So what? Give it a couple sims hours. They're fine. Doesn't matter.
There's nothing in Sims 4 I fear the consequences of. Nothing matters to my Sims if it doesn't happen or even if it does. Family sim doesn't get that family? Doesn't matter. Romance sim doesn't romance? So what? That's why it's easy.
I wouldn't mind seeing some smaller items.. a smaller telescope.. maybe adding an option to the ovens to bake in them instead of having to use the cupcake machine
I would like to see a TEMPERAMENT / PERSONALITY SYSTEMwith sliders (Sims 1 & Sims 2) as an addition to the traits.
1. SENSITIVE - RATIONAL
SENSITIVE (1-5) *Faster increasing skills: Creativity skills, Pet skills, Life skill *Increased performance in following careers: Therapist, Doctor, creative careers *Decreased performance in following careers: Detective, Law, Military, Secret agent *Easier to gain sentiments *Collects higher negative life points from negative experiences LIFE STRUGGLES PACK *Collects higher positive life points from positive experiences LIFE STRUGGLES PACK
RATIONAL (6-10) *Faster increasing skills: Logic skills *Increased performance in following careers: Detective, Law, Military, Secret agent *Decreased performance in following careers: Therapist, creative careers *Harder to gain sentiments *Collects lower negative life points from negative experiences LIFE STRUGGLES PACK *Collects lower positive life points from positive experiences LIFE STRUGGLES PACK
LIFE STRUGGLES PACK
*If having a very “negative childhood” +high point in SENSITIVE = risk of developing Sensitive maniac trait (van Gogh)
*If having a very “negative childhood” +high points in RATIONAL = risk of developing Rational maniac trait (mad scientist/John Nash)
2. INTROVERT – EXTROVERT
INTROVERT (1-5) *Decreased performance in following careers: Entertainer, Comedian, Actor *Faster decreasing energy bar around unknown/acquaint sims *Slower decreasing social bar *Can get the moodlet Overwhelmed introvert around (unknown) sims *Can get the moodlet Shy around (unknown) sims *Harder to socialize with new sims *Higher risk of getting the Social anxious moodlet (when low points in Self-Esteem) LIFE STRUGGLES PACK *More negative feelings/moodlets around new/unknown sims *Tend to get less/no whims about parties/social events/getting to know new sims/attention *Tend to get more fears (whims) about making a fool of themselves/social embaressment/to be in the centrum of attention
CAS Traits only available for INTROVERT: Loner
CAS Traits not available for INTROVERT: Outgoing
EXTROVERT (6-10) *Increased performance in following careers: Entertainer, Comedian, Actor *Faster increasing skill: Charisma *Slower decreasing energy bar around unknown/acquaint sims. *Faster decreasing social bar *Can get the moodlet Exited extrovert around other sims. *Easier to socialize with new sims *More positive feelings/moodlets around new/unknown sims *Tend to get more whims about parties/social events/getting to know new sims
CAS Traits only available for EXTROVERT: Outgoing
CAS Traits not available for EXTROVERT: Loner
3. PLAYFUL - SERIOUS
PLAYFUL(1-5) *Faster increasing skills: Creativity skills, Comedy skills *Increased performance in following careers: Creative careers, Babysitter career (part time job) *More often playful and inspired emotion/moodlets *Faster Bored or Tensed when performing serious actions (e.g. studying) *More whims with playful actions, less whims with serious actions
CAS Traits only available for PLAYFUL: Goofball
SERIOUS(6-10) *Slower increasing skills: Creativity skills, Comedy skill *Decreased performance in in following careers: Creative careers, Babysitter career (part time job) *Increased performance in following careers: Astronaut, Business, Detective, Law, Salary person, Politician *Easier to fail with jokes *Easier to get other sims gain the moodlet “bored” from a conversation with your sim *Easier for other sims to gain the sentiment “reliable” about your sim (=easier to convince someone) *Slower Bored or Tensed when performing serious actions (e.g. studying) *Increased fun bar from performing serious actions (e.g. studying) *More whims with serious actions, less whims with playful actions
CAS Traits not available for SERIOUS: Goofball
4. IMPULSIVE – REFLECTIVE
IMPULSIVE(1-5) *Tend to change their whims (positive & negative) more often *More impulsive whims *Can become tensed when sedentary for a longer period of time *Tends to get more smaller whims with smaller rewards *Faster Bored with repetitive conversations *Faster Bored when performing repetitive actions / from repetative interaction *Faster Bored with long-spun actions (e.g. short attention span, bored when doing a homework that take a long time to do). *Will autonomously do more impulsive actions and jump through different actions (doing some homework ->now playing a game on the phone -> now start learning this new skill /etc) *Harder to get and remain Focused from actions (e.g. playing chess) *Can get the moodlet: Excited! * Easier to get the moodlet Life feels meh (+1 Bored and Decreasing Meaningfulness points). *Rapidly changing temperament: Tend to more easily become agitated/excited/scared/etc, and more mood swings
REFLECTIVE (6-10) *Tend to change (refresh) their whims (positive & negative) less often (will stick with their whims for a longer period of time) * Will be able to see one/several of the tasks from the Quest want before accepting the quest *Less/no impulsive whims *Tend to get more “bigger” whims with bigger rewards *Easier to get Focused from actions (e.g. playing chess) *Will autonomously stick with their routines (no new impulsive actions), will stick with their actions for longer periods of time *Smooth/even temperament: less mood swings and "freak outs"
5. PERSISTENT – UNMOTIVATED
PERSISTENT(1-5) *A persistent sim that failing with a Quest want or a whim that you have locked (=by removing it or by completing the opposite fear) will get a bigger decrease in Self Esteem points and Meaningsfulness points and tend to get the same whim instant afterwards *Bigger increased Meaningsfulness points when completing a Quest want or a whim that you have locked *Decreased Meaningsfulness points when failing with a new years resolution (SEASONS EP).
CAS Traits only available for PERSISTENT: Ambitious
CAS Traits not available for PERSISTENT: Lazy
UNMOTIVATED(6-10) (Example: Bob Panncake!) *Smaller loss in Meaningsfulness points when failing with a Quest want or a whim that you have locked *If you have a Quest want or a whim that you have locked for a longer period of time without completing it => the sim will get the negative moodlet LET ME GO! and tend to get whims with: UNLOCK THE WANT! / LET ME GO! (=> urging to the player, because of low motivation)
CAS Traits only available for UNMOTIVATED: Lazy
CAS Traits not available for UNMOTIVATED: Ambitious
Example: A sim could be More or Less ex. Sensitive / Rational or Introvert / Extrovert and also have trait like: Snob, Coward & Hotheaded. Improved experience: Sims will feel more unique. Just having specific traits is a very shallow way of describing a human / sim.
> @Simalleyaile said: > Example of "shallow" gameplay: Reading. There are actually a heap of books for sims to choose from, but it doesn't matter what book a sim reads, as there's no record of it. It's like it didn't even happen. > > Possible solution: > Use the Notebook to keep account of what books have been read by the sim. > Why? > 1. Adds a challenge, like completing a collection. A player can decide what genre is the sims favourite, and read all the books available in that genre, with a list they can refer back to to keep track. > 2. Opportunity for deeper book gameplay, especially useful for sims with the Bookworm trait or those in book clubs. eg, Talk about ...specific book with other sim. Also, if a sim still has a book in their inventory, they can Recommend book ... to other sims and gift it to them. > > > > > Reading specific genres could be a Likes/Dislikes. > > Or, a separate Favourites <3 Category could be added, especially useful for book genres, movie genres, specific types of foods and drink.
Adding a Collection featuring books would be a great idea. I like collections and filling them out, this would be a good reason to buy books. There's really no reason to buy any given book over any other at present.
Maybe sims would also be bored by reading a book they've already read.
Thanks for giving me a space to post! I have almost 7k hours played. I did however stop playing after the ghost update and the paranormal pack came out.
My unpopular thoughts about TS4... I would like more options for specific packs. I should be able to go options and choose which occult appear in my save. I should be able to pick what climate and weather occurs in my save no matter where my Sim lives. It should not rain that much in the pets expansion. My Sim shouldn't need a high skill and a large machine to change the weather. I don't want a mod to do it either. I want options!
I just want to play the game. I don't want the game to play me. Too many pop-ups. Useless tasks that have no impact. I want my sandbox. I just want to play. Example: The parenthood ask for advice and character traits should be optional. I mod to get rid of all of it. Stop breaking my immersion. I don't want teens to die on the sidewalk because they got a pimple. I know how to play and get my Sims work. I don't need constant job offers or messages about signing up for jobs when my Sim works from home. I just want to play without interruptions. Let me choose when they take a gig and if they have a job leave them alone.
I think that a higher level of challenge and depth would include real-life issues. The first thing that comes to mind is disabilities of the physical sort (i.e. blindness, wheelchairs, canes). It would require a player to understand what a disabled sim would need to get around (this sim can't use stairs, needs a ramp, elevator, strategic placements of benches in park builds, etc- Lovers/friends might get an embarrassed moodlet by inviting someone somewhere when they can't get in the building). Consider things that they might not have thought about before. I wouldn't say to go so far as building prejudices into the game (as that makes most real-life issues the most difficult) because it is nice to have a world free of that in The Sims, but real-life things people deal with that takes planning and makes gameplay more challenging in the meantime.
I often find myself hitting a dead end on Sims 4, running out of things to do and it feeling a bit like Groundhog Day not matter which family I play. Whims don’t seem to be as big a part of the game as they were previously in Sims 2 & 3 - I forget they are even their with their generic symbols. The goals are no longer specific to the sim like ‘x wants to go on a date with x’ or ‘get a job as an x’ and it does seem that Aspirations are now the focus however they are the same goals for each and every Sim, meaning I’m doing the same goals over and over.
My sim’s storyline would often depend on what their wants were and therefore take me through their storyline by completing them when I liked the suggestions. I also really wish that Sims 4 had the same opportunities and community events that Sims 3 did. It made the sims interesting by having different opportunities for work or personal and perhaps completing something for a bonus at work or delivering cookies to a neighbour. My favourite were the celebrity opportunities - film commercial, attend event etc.
I just feel like there’s not much more to do than go to work, get promoted, tick off an aspiration and repeat. Bring in some rabbit hole activities (like the volunteering for example!) that give the sims more activities/tasks/goals to achieve that get them out of the house! Rather than playing violin for 8 hours on the weekend when they’re not at work.....
2. Depth to Relationships - Particularly Romantic
The storyline I tend to play the most is having a Sim work their way through their career whilst trying to find a love interest. Enter a few dates, engagement and eventually wedding and children and repeat with said children. I do think Sims2 & 3 had more depth when it came to relationships and particularly romantic ones. Sims 2 had turn on and offs so you were more compatible if you met these and had chemistry. Also Sims 3 with compatible star signs and ‘we have so much in common, I’d love to get to know you better’ as well as online dating. Sims 4 doesn’t have this, its sort of just pick one, become their friend and go with it. I’d love a separation of Sims you spark with more or really connect with and some sort of compatibility/attraction component so that you could go on a few dates and click with some and not others to find ‘the one’. The likes and dislikes were such a great addition to the game but they don’t mean anything when it comes to relationship or even whims - they just add a mood let. It would be nice to have sims have things in common and that have some sort of effect, or potentially be polar opposites and not get along at all - or even have one sim interests and not the other! ‘Sorry, I only like you as a friend.’
3. Teens!
I do find teenagers pretty boring and lacking the depth and opportunities they had in both Sims 3 and 2. They do seem to be more or less adults who have mood swings on occasion. Would love to bring back some opportunities such as sneaking out like in Sims 2 and getting grounded if caught or brought home by police. Skipping school, additional after school activities, teenage dating and going steady, sleepovers, throwing parties while parents are out etc. I think Sims 3 did the the field trips, prom and graduation really well. Another favourite is trying to get your kids into private school like in Sims 2. I would be more interested in teens if they could get more of a teenage/high school experience, adding some depth to your studious/geekier sims vs your rebellious/getting into trouble sims.
I think when people say they want "gameplay" they mean traits having in-game purposes
[b]Trait Gameplay [/b]Loner trait makes social skill increase when alone or decrease when interacting with other Sims.
[b]Lot Improvements: [/b]businesses where you can live in. (MIXED-USE) Lot Improvements- We have all the items to make a bakery, but can't call the lot a bakery. Lots for Toddlers, because they don't have anywhere to go/do Being able to work at your own stores or more freedom in selecting who works at your store for storytelling reasons. Being able to select and apply as a roommate.
[b]CAS Improvements [/b]More Male Clothes with a feminine edge but not necessarily too feminine, or just trendier clothes in general. Since I almost exclusively play with male Sims this is a big deal. Clothes inspired by ASOS, Tiktok, or influencers More elegant clothes that aren't necessarily dresses and suits. Clothes that match or can mix and match better Less abstract pants for men, because they have few pants as it is Male clothes with accessories incorporated such as neckerchiefs
[b]GAME PACK REFRESH IDEAS [/b]Butlers/Bone Hilda can use the vacuum. Doctor's office being more integrated into the game Also the detective/police being able to arrest you for streaking or other shenanigans.
[b]Job Integration: [/b]Incorporating jobs already in the game into jobs you can join like Yoga Instructor, Mailman, etc
[b]FACE & FACIAL PRESETs [/b]Because the Sims face presets are so limited, I find Sims have a bad case of same face syndrome. So more presets for noses, mouth, and more premade faces could help diversify Sims.
Just a quick question before I start: Why when I invite a vampire friend during the night it says they are sleeping??? You might want to work on that. :D
The last time I played sims it was Sims 2 and comparing now to Sims 4 it was way more flowy, it had loads of totally random events that were autonomously initiated by our sims and thought & talk bubbles actually had more meaning. This game is lacking surprise events.
Shopping: I remember in Sims 2, my sim bought a lot and made a whole mall, I was able to have different stores and restaurants and all in one place.
And why are we limited on the number of lots and worlds? Sims 2 had totally open world-building mode, why Sims 4 doesn't? City living is disappointing, why are we only able to play penthouses? And of course, it totally lacks space for lots of nightclubs, restaurants and so on.
I find the gameplay of Sims 4 way behind Sims 2. :#
Hello Sims team! I remembered to do this just before bed, so this isn't as long of a thesis as I would have hoped:
-Choices resulting in more meaningful/ lasting consequences -More unexpected events. Things like prank calls, job chance cards, and unscheduled holidays are a start, but there needs to be more of these types of events, especially in the base game. -More real world clothing options. Right now, most of the clothing is aspirational, but I would love to see clothing that's outdated, dirty, worn, ill-fitting. I would also love more clothing suitable for elders. -More life state-specific gameplay
Hey, it's great you're listening to the community so thanks for this opportunity to share my thoughts with you. Without players, what would games really be?
To me, a higher level of challenge would involve changes to at least skills, relationships, emotions, school and work. What comes to depth in gameplay, I would like to see talents and weaknesses (in relation to skills), more varied (but also harder and not so one-sided) relationships and more traits/other personality modifiers per sim to mimic having a _personality_. Especially I would want to see more _meaningful Interactions_ between sims! I'll try and break these things down for clarity and elaborate a bit further.
CHALLENGE or What's lacking in challenge and how I think it could be improved:
Skills. Generally it feels too easy to progress in all the skills. I feel like sims should have weaknesses and talents that could modify the experience of skill building and make it more meaningful and give sims more personality. Maybe we could have these modifiers in CAS to be able to create more diverse sims? I know traits affect how fast a sim can learn some specific skill but we only have 3 to give and there are a lot of skills, so I wouldn't want to burn all my trait slots into trying to mimic talents and weaknesses as the traits portray things differently anyway. I know we have a reward trait that makes learning ALL skills easier but I never use it because the game is too easy already and it's not realistic to have someone be good at absolutely everything. Being able to pick what our sims are naturally good/bad at would give them more personality and depth and add some difficulty to the game when not all skills are learned as easily.
Relationships. It's too easy to get friends and find a spouse. Especially it bugs me that relationships are so one-sided. Why do both of the interacting sims gain exactly as much relationship bits for each interaction? In real life I might think more highly of someone than they do of me or vice versa. There's no such thing as unrecruited love in the Sims 4. :( For both storytelling and realism I wish we could have our sims have a crush on someone but maybe they don't feel the same way and then we should really work hard to impress them. It would make sense that sims' traits and preferences and their shared sentiments and lifestyles would affect how their relationship (friendship and romantic) evolves. I saw some people suggest an attraction system and I second this. And relationship culling! This is more on the gameplay depth level but I really wish we could choose some relationships to never cull! It's so immersion breaking that sims completely forget the existence of their own relatives! It is realistic to forget some townie that you talked to once at a food stall but how can you completely forget your cousins or school friends? It's super annoying to try to have a wedding or some other family reunion but you can't invite everyone because you forgot them. Completely.
Emotions. Sims seem to always be in a positive mood. Even the loss of a loved one is forgotten after a nice meal and cup of coffee, sitting in a beautiful room on a comfy sofa, listening to some nice music. The emotion system should be revamped to create more challenge to the game. I would expect sims to be "Fine" most of the time and when they have a negative emotion, it should power over the constant happiness. The uncomfortable mood should lessen the feeling of happiness whereas now it's just a total sum of the moodlets where the positive ones always overpower the negative ones. Also I think there used to be a "perfect emotion" for every career but it was removed? This sounds like the extra challenge we all crave. I applaud you for bringing on the lifestyles, they seem to be a step in the right direction! The emotions they bring are.. often quite intense but at least they have an effect! Having said that, I wish we could have some more different lifestyles included in the future.
School and work. Especially school seems to be very easy and I have noticed that after getting an "A" grade my child/teen sim doesn't need to do homework anymore because the grades drop so slowly. This should be addressed. Maybe the homework activities could be a bit more varied and we could get subject homework? This would also bring more depth to the gameplay. Let's say my child sim is good at mental tasks but not so talented in creativity, for example, so they would do well at maths homework and struggle when asked to write a story. Then it wouldn't be so smooth sailing all the time. I wish we could get tests at school! I'm sure some of Discover university gameplay aspects could be brought to normal schools for kids and teens? They could get nervous before a test or feel peaceful after studying all night! For adult sims, working and gaining promotions is way too easy and we get tons of money for no effort really. To start with, I wish we had some kind of a job application process to make things a bit more difficult. Especially with Discover university we could have required degrees to be able to progress further in certain careers but even in base game it shouldn't be that easy to just go and say "Hey I want this job". Maybe we could have a job application and some careers would have minimum requirements for certain skills to be able to apply for the position?
DEPTH or How I feel we could have more depth to gameplay:
Skills. I really wish for some reviewing of the skills, especially cooking and handiness. If I'm level 0 at handiness, why do I even attempt to repair the washing machine? It would make sense that like the upgrades, the ability to repair appliances would also be unlocked with increasing skill level. Maybe you could still try and possibly die trying? This would give a reason to sometimes call the repair sim NPC or, if you know someone with high level of handiness, ask them to do it? This would bring both some challenge but especially a more meaningful experience. The worst/least realistic to me is cooking. Any sim living alone will reach lvl 10 in cooking in very little time. Zoomers delivery is a wonderful thing though, so not all sims have to become super chefs in a week but the problem still persists. I'd love to see a system where you have to learn to make every recipe so they're not always automatically good quality. (For those who wish for an easier experience, maybe checking the recipe book before cooking would increase the chances of a better meal.) After skill level 3 it seems impossible to make poor quality food which does not seem realistic and is quite frankly boring. If there truly were difficulty levels in recipes (there seemingly is since new recipes are unlocked after levelling up in cooking.. but that's the catch - they're only unlocked) it would make sense that you might not get it right the first time, and to truly achieve an excellent quality meal with a level 9 recipe you would have to make it at least 3-5 times in your life. Making a perfect dish should be a real challenge. This would make the game feel more alive, so that young parents would struggle a little to try to get their kids eat the food even though mommy burned the casserole. Achieving a perfect lvl 10 gourmet cooking dish would now be something that not every sim could achieve unless you really practise that skill and suddenly the cooking skill would start to feel interesting. I love the programming skill but I wish we could do more with it. Maybe some of the household appliances would have upgrades that required programming instead of handiness? Or make improvements to that sims Alexa thingy? Maybe you could hack the neighbour's Xmas lights or their fire/burglar(?) alarm for fun with high enough mischief skill. I wish skills were combined in some activities!
Traits. Even with the preferences, it's hard to make unique sims with only 3 traits. I'd have to add that some of them are a bit too much to use (goofballs sabotage their own toilet every day, mean and evil sims just generally seem so extreme that I don't really want to create such characters and I don't think that choosing a vegetarian or low-lactose diet should be a third of your personality) which really brings down the pool to choose from. Maybe we could have minor traits and major traits? So that cat/dog lover, vegetarian etc. could be those minor traits that are additional to actual major traits (the ones that are really about emotions and hobbies) and maybe then our sims would feel more like having a personality. Personally I just think we need more slots, especially to kids and teens. Kids feel just so empty and lacking in personality because their personality literally is that one trait. And character flaws! We need more negative traits and possibly a trait slot that is actually dedicated for a negative trait because no one is perfect and only the most boring sims have only positive traits.
Preferences. I love them! We just need more and more slots for each sim. :) There's so many things that go under the category "fitness" but they're all very different activities. I wish we were able to make a sim that for example loves basketball and swimming, hates football and is indifferent to ice skating. How about playing cards? Tanning? Chess? Doing homework? Pet training? I would expect sims' preferences to have more effect on their relationship building. You like snowboarding and knitting too? Cool, we should hang out!
Consequences. There seem to be so few. Do clumsy sims fail more often at things? Doesn't seem so or then it's tuned down so much that I haven't noticed any difference. Sometimes when my sim does an activity they dislike, I get no effect. I think they should get a buff each time they do something disliked, at least if it's for longer than about 5 sim minutes. When I get a chance card at work, it doesn't really seem to do much. Unless it's one of those where I get the options laid out to me (you'll gain fame but lose your job) and it would be so much better if there was a real choice and I didn't know the outcomes beforehand.
Aspirations. We desperately need more aspirations and more varied aspirations. They should be more difficult to accomplish and seem less like tutorials to the game. The individual tasks should be about more varying activities like collecting stuff, doing social interactions, organising events, maybe getting a promotion, visiting places and observing events or phenomena and less about levelling up a certain skill. Not saying it shouldn't include skill building but the aspirations are too often about maxing a certain skill eventually. Maybe gaining level 5 could be enough and concentrate more on different activities rather than spamming just one.
Improved social interactions, requests. This is what I MOST miss in the game! Sims should be able to do more things together and have more situationally relevant conversations and most of all, be able to ask other sims to do stuff! I'm constantly missing in my gameplay that sims could _indirectly_ control other sims' behaviour (but that should Not mean that it would always succeed). Examples: I'd want to ask my roommate to make coffee. If they're on a good mood, they'll gladly do it or if we're not really friends, maybe they'll refuse. I'd like to be able to ask another sim to help clean. It doesn't matter that I'm able to control both sims and I could just direct the other sim to do laundry. It's completely different (in terms of storytelling and Immersion) to be able to ask another sim to clean, repair, cook, tend garden, check on kids or even get a job than to just direct that sim to do it. Especially when dealing with guests/roommates at your house when you can't direct them, it would make such a difference to be able to ask them to help out in some way. Maybe it's your handy mom visiting so you'd ask her to repair the broken dish washer? I'd absolutely love that. Even more cool would be that in addition to this, another sim might ask my sim the same! Like no, you just kicked over my trashcan, I won't be making any coffee for you or if I'm visiting a good friend and they need help with something, of course I'd do it! And after making coffee/tea I wish I could direct them to grab some! Just like we can "Call to meal" it would make sense to be able to "Call to get drink". It feels weird to have a visitor and then unlike in real life I have no way of directing my guests to simply have a cup of coffee with me. And speaking of guests, I want to be able to introduce other sims! Like "Hi mom, this is my new girlfriend!" or "Hi Bob, this is my colleague".
So far we've had some good improvement lately (sentiments, lifestyles, preferences, cooking together) and I hope you will keep improving! I hope those aspects mentioned are being expanded as well. I feel we need more sentiments because they are getting a little repetitive. Same goes for preferences and lifestyles. Some possible ideas for new lifestyles: a "High maintenance" sim would enjoy pampering spa treatments, more luxurious foods and drinks and they would tend to avoid household chores and other burdensome activities, a "Creature of the night" sim would usually stay up late and get up late, they would enjoy nightlife in the clubs or maybe just a quiet internet café at night, as long as they don't need to drag their butt out of their house too early in the morning, and an "Occultist" sim would enjoy the company of ghosts, vampires, plant sims and all those other exciting occult sims, enjoy doing any occult related activities or studying about them in books and suffer from boredom when dealing with mere mortals. After having written all that, I'm not sure if Lifestyles are basegame but I hope so because they're great! :D
Thanks for reading through all this, I spent a good hour writing it! Sul sul!
Feedback for Sims
In The Sims 2 the sims where just somehow... more different to each other you'll need to ask how that was done if you don't know already but it made it so fun and immersive, i mean a lot of things were the same about them but somehow they didn't feel the same either and they were just more expressive in the animations used when chatting and other social interactions.
Then toddlers would dance to the radio, Kids and teens would act up when they had a bad relationship with one or both of their parents or sometimes they'd run to hug them when they came home if they have a good relationship and then that only happened with certain personalities, then they'd run around the house more Autonomously in a way that made them feel like real independent people minus watching tv all the time lol. The Toddlers run around and play a lot more but as they get to a Teenager they aren't so autonomous anymore and just really flat.
The sims still aren't scared about things so much either nor do they have worries like they used to in TS2, i think worrying about their toddler falling asleep on the floor was a bit much but they would worry about their kids even in the base game and the Aspirations had worries and fears in the negative ones, i think worries were tied to the Aspirations but they were also tied to a bunch of social interactions so i think you could add them back without the Aspirations.
The Sims would also get jealous when other sims attempted to flirt with their lover lol although the amount of fights and drama that broke out in TS2 was way too much you'd go to a Community Lot and boom... there's at least 1 or 2 fights happening or just some random sim going around bullying certain sims just cos their personalities seemingly didn't get along but that was clearly something gone wrong there with the programming lol we just want them to be jealous and react but not continue fighting each other as if they have some urge to keep fighting.
I also agree on there being there no consequences or really actually getting sick i wish they did... even in TS2 they got sick with The Flu and then it only took a bowl of Grandma's Soup to get better lol they need to go through it for an entre 1 week where it's worse for the first 5 days then just sniffles for the last 2 days before it's gone and then more soup recipes and some medicines like Lemsips or Cough Medicine to help them get through it, it would be really fun looking after them while they're off sick from work I know you tried things having more consequences early TS4 but it just wasn't done well cos you did it in a way that made it easy for them to die lol but really what we're asking is for things to have consequences without a constant risk of death because a lot of things don't but nevertheless it has some sort of consequence which really throws you or causing a problem.
Feedback on Challenge
It's always just been way way too easy and too easy to cheat as well as much as sometimes it's useful due to some programme flaws you can't fix like needing to max out their Needs in certain situations or for being creative when building, then it's too easy to give them money making them rich with just 1 cheat, then it's too easy to make them rich just by selling things even The Sims 2 and i worked out what the cap was for a Business which was like 45k i think but that's per day lol you'll be a millionaire in like in a matter of a few sim weeks.
Now in TS4 it's even easier where people can earn money from selling almost anything they open up a store, sell it then close it lol doesn't take long to get rich... and now you've got multiple Workbenches and able to sell stuff on the street, and then there's how much you make just from selling grown food with zero costs to them for selling it even at home lol. I mean it's nice to be able to do that but they get rich way way too fast but the worth of crops needs to be reduced and then i think a way to register on the computer that your a seller (where you pick what your selling) where there will start to be a charge per day like... you'll have to work that out how much is enough to charge but it makes it harder to earn and feels like sort of a real business i mean... Where do those fruit and veg go when they're sold? lol it just needs to feel a bit more real while making it a harder challenge to earn money. Make it harder to get promoted too the series of requirements is too easy and quickly completed.
Feedback for Building
I just think we really really need The Color Wheel back that used to be in TS3 to be able to create different types of homes and actually have matching furniture, flooring, walls etc... right now it's too limited and too sandboxy and it was alright for TS1 cos it was new but not now when we have much better Building Tools yet we're limited by just the items we're given and what it looks like, How many times can you use them before you get bored?.
We need more flexibility and making things any color we want will help with that you just need to give a tutoriel to explain what HTML and CSS Hex Codes are which are easy to just copy and paste from the internet these days and you could create The Color Wheel in a way we can see the colors better like some photo editing programmes have where we can more easily slide the little circle over the spectrum of colors to find what color we want but also enter a HTML or CSS Color Code if we want to, the circular kind is a bit harder to work with and i usually struggle to find a color i want too much, so i'd go with the easier rectangular type instead, if you do decide to add it back is (please please add it back *pout* lol).
My short Herstory, I’ve been playing The SIMS for the duration. Was acclimated with The SIMS, fell deeply in love with SIMS 2 (my all time fav), got a new generation into The SIMS with My SIMS on the wii (my baby sister, and 3 of my nieces are still Simmers), played a bit with SIMS 3 (didn’t really like it) and am currently living & lovin my SIMS 4 life. Thank You. As a stage 3 cancer survivor, playing The SIMS has provided me with soo much fun time, alleviating the stress of my chemo-cocktail. As a child of the 60s, The SIMS is my Digital Barbies.
Consider this, when we are in the gallery or a world and select a family to play, it would be great if each SIMs’ employment status could also be displayed. My game play is very immersive and sometimes I don’t remember who has what job. For example, when I'm doing a wedding, I'd like to hire the SIM that has the photographer job, as opposed to using any available sim to take the pictures.
Also want to thank you for designing the code in a way that allows it to be modified. You have laid a platform whereby Simmers make the game their own by creating CAS and Build/Buy items to more individualize the playing experience. With it, you have created a whole new employment opportunity. In addition, Simmers have channels and are filmmakers. You have opened opportunities for many people and if they have not properly thanked you, please accept mine. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!
Again, thank you for giving my Barbie dreams life. Have an awesome day and stay safe. Ciao, MsDSweets
I feel the lack of challenge aspect comes down to the base of Sims 4. The whims system was supposed to be a new key point when Sims 4 came out, but I feel it flopped. I don't remember the last time I even paid attention to it. Same with the traits; Sims 4 has been out 7 years, and in total the game has 56 different traits to choose from (comparing to Sims 3 which had 65 traits over 5 years). Not to mention only picking three traits limits things a tad. I think working on these two systems, combined with some other ideas others have posted, will help to improve the game.
Thank you for giving us this chance to let you know what we think. anyways, Over the 6 (almost 7) years that Sims 4 has been out there has been a crazy amount of work put in but there is always more to be added and fixed.
in the overall game, there should be a tone that matches the grass and the sidewalk perfectly that way we can start making actual drive ways like some simmers wish, but we cant because sometimes it just looks a tad bit weird since we don't have that match. there could also be cars that the sims can drive even if its two colors so be it, it would just be nice to see our sims taking a nice drive instead of walking or biking to there destination, especially if there going to a different world, to me i feel like no one can walk across to a different "state" (world) that fast to get to work or to go to a club.
now as someone who plays on the Xbox it would be nice if you added some things in the game options. Sometimes the "mouse" or the sticks on the controller move to fast and it would be nice if there was a option to move it a bit slower, reason I'm mentioning this is because i have problems with it and I'm sure others do to. But I also babysit kids who absolutely love playing Sims 4 but cries or gets upset because the "mouse" moves to fast in the Sims and they don't know why it does it and i have to tell them its ok and that its just how the game and controller work. secondly, it would be nice if we could change the brightness in the sims whenever we needed to because sometimes ill play in the dark and my eyes have to readjust so much because of how bright it is. i mean i understand if its not in your interest to fix stuff in the Xbox or PlayStation version but it would be nice for the few of us who do use the Xbox or PlayStation rather then PC.
i also wish that for pregnant sims that we could possible at a gender reveal party or a baby shower in the base game just to make it a bit more fun. were the sim can pop a balloon, slice a cake, do a treasure hunt, or old wives tales just to figure out the babies gender. and then to have it were the sims friends and family give the pregnant sim presents for her and the baby.
another thing you could add in is maybe a waterpark or some other fun places the sims can go that are simple and can be put in the base game without having to make a whole pack for it because there are simmers out there that cant get the packs because they don't have the money to afford it, or there are teens that don't have a job or cant get a job or/and don't want to use there parents money. i mean i understand that you have to make money but you should also consider your audience and the type of audience that get sims like teens or people that don't have money like others do. i would just like to see something in the base game that's more exciting that doesn't include the packs.
we have these walls that we can change the height with but cant change the length which sucks because it would just be nice to have a wall that we could change the length if we needed to to make the house the way we want it.
i like the bunk beds you added for the teens but why not the toddlers, i mean you could make a bunk bed for the toddlers and then we get see the adorable elder sibling or parent maybe grandparent lift the kid on to the second bunk and after awhile the toddler fully learns how to climb the bunk bed without any help i mean how CUTE would that be.
as my sister says she wants to see other pets that are in the wild like unicorns, zebras, like in the sims three it could be in the secret worlds after all they really do need to be added onto no offence but i would love to see some secret animals roaming in the secret worlds ones that you could be friends with or ride etc. but this could be added to any secret worlds not just the ones in the base game but the others like for the aliens maybe have some alien pets to go with it. the secret worlds are just so plain there's nothing to do there but fish or getting plants or frogs.
now back to the main thing what i would like to see is more fun in the base game that isn't a pack for once. it would change my experience wildly i mean i would be thrilled to see some of the stuff others and i have said for the base game maybe some in past packs if possible just to give us like a basically free pack for base game i mean maybe a free pack for like 4 or 7 days would be cool now that i think of it. its just with the base game you add a little every time you add a pack but i think its time that you added on to base game mayjorly. i would mainly like to see more done to the Xbox and PlayStation options and the secret worlds. now as i always say when writing something big, sorry if it was to much or i repeated i just am very passionate about some stuff.
Bring back Claire the bear and the trash raccoons!!! Also that weird clown that use to come live at your house when you made your Sim insane. I miss my love heart bed and hot tub too. Bring out an expansion pack/ item pack full of The Sims 1 furniture and decor please and thank you.
Sims need to have a higher risk of bad outcomes based on their skills/traits- low handiness? Death by electrocution when repairing electrical items. Low cooking skill? Even more likely to start fires. No brave trait? Unable to autonomously put out fires. Stuff like that!
Overhaul of build item costs and update in career income/selling crafted items and harvestables - It feels like everything is too cheap to buy, and earning money is too easy! Especially when it comes to the bigger or more luxurious items (I mean, the giant Backyard Conservatory is only 1500!?).
Make emotions more integrated into gameplay. At the moment a bad mood (sad, tense, etc) can be a mild inconvenience, but sims should either refuse to do any skill building activities while in that mood, or have the speed of skill building greatly reduced based on their mood. Then mood altering items would actually come in useful! Also, the Happy mood should be more likely to be overtaken by other moods - make happiness harder to work for.
Likes and dislikes are one of the best additions so far and it would be great to see them go further in terms of gameplay - for example, a sim who hates pop music shouldn't autonomously dance to it, they should be more annoyed/change the station to their liked music/throw a tantrum. Relationships should also be harder for sims who have opposing interests. Turn ons and turn offs would also be great for relationship depth.
Photo album - at the moment, all photos in the photo gallery are visible for all households at once, it would be nice if each family had their own compiled photos so you can look over a family's legacy with ease. An in game photo album that the sims (and the player!) can look at and reminisce would be amazing for legacy family depth.
Greetings, Also want to mention that it is AWESOME that EA/MAXIS has decided to allow simmers to add CAS & Build/Buy items as well as build lots to be released with game updates and additions. This is a genius idea. Thank you again. Ciao, MsDSweets
I think we need answers as to why a lot has been taken away from the game too. Like why can we no longer control our pets? Where did horses go? I miss having a herd of wild horses chill in my yard and making my cat give people rude introductions. I want them to scratch people. Animals are now useless objects that just complain the whole time. My cat is literally red all the time and I have no idea why. I nearly kill my sim wasting all my time trying to make this stupid cat happy just let me be the cat.
Comments
Well, first I gotta say that what makes me wish for a harder and deeper game is that it’s too easy to get rich, develop relationships, overcome negative emotions. We can’t tell much difference between how sims act and react to things, and much of what happens depends on the player’s input, turning the gameplay into more of a chore sometimes because of all the things we have to set up.
So here are some ways to tackle these issues:
Finances:
• less starting funds;
• sims earning less money from their jobs (salary and promotion bonuses)
• making items more expensive;
• players actually having to use cheap items in the beginning;
• these are incentives to finding alternative sources of income (gardening, woodworking, odd jobs...) and adhering to restrictive conditions to reduce bills (micro homes, off the grid)
Personality, relationships and interactions:
• likes and dislikes were a GREAT addition, and we can make them even better by including likes and dislikes regarding other sims, affecting how successful relationships can be – no interaction should be the same as the other;
• traits need to affect gameplay even more, so special whims that are like challenges and can’t be canceled would be nice, whims with consequences if not completed within a time limit, like staying (notice the word stay, because whims related to places nowadays only ask us to visit them, and that’s too easy) in a bar for X hours and making Y new friends for an outgoing sim, and if you fail, that sim could get a massive negative moodlet (+50 tense or something) or even lose satisfaction points – the same concept could be used for life stages (midlife crisis)
o another good example: snob sim wanting to build an additional floor or move to a wealthier neighborhood;
• traits should be even more noticeable from the outside, so more unique social interactions, with NEW animations (looking at you, unflirty sims having the same animations with different names), interactions that could either be successful or not depending on who you’re interacting with
• stealing someone else’s partner shouldn’t be so easy (level of commitment + likes & dislikes should be difficulty factors)
• being forgiven should require more effort (I barely gift other sims, so that’s a feature that would get more attention)
• new relationship statuses with unique interactions, like childhood friend
• interactions related to recent events, such as having a good/bad meal, getting married/divorced, getting promoted/fired
• story progression: it’s ok if it’s added as an optional feature, but not having to worry about families disappearing, leaving empty houses all over the place, being able to merge big family trees and going out with other sims to celebrate their own achievements would be really cool
Emotions:
• Some emotions shouldn’t be overshadowed by drinking water and staying in a well decorated room, so the values need some refining
• Wouldn’t mind having some of them be stronger at first (like, really strong, especially negative ones, f.i. grief over a family member) and then getting weaker over time – being incapable of finding a way around initially is important and realistic, I think, but wouldn’t want them to be strong till the end – being persistent, like always having that +2 sad because of a lost soulmate, or having a moodlet show up here and there would be cool tho
• No more black or white: synergy between different emotions (possible combos: confident + flirty, confident + inspired, inspired + focused…) – this helps with preventing them to swing back and forth too, which is really annoying
I think that's all... for now ;)
I would like to see memories incorporated a little more in depth as it relates to sentiments. I’m thinking along the lines of Sims 2 memories where significant events (divorce, births, robberies) are recorded, and we can go back to see these events in the Sims’ panel.
Much like the Hurt or Angry sentiment after a bad hike in Snowy Escape, it would be helpful to have a record of the exact event that caused these sentiments. It can be frustrating, in terms of gameplay, when your Sim is angry or hurt by someone, and you don’t even know what happened between them because it could have been a random, autonomous interaction.
Memories would also be nice for remembering significant relationships in Sims’ lives, such as if a Sim remarries, they don’t lose total connection to a previous relationship.
Thanks!!
-Career
Can I fail at this? Not really. Ignore the prompts, gain the skills, and send them to work. Done.
-Relationships
Will I ever fail at marrying my sim to the one I picked out? Nope. I can have them meet, date, and get married within a couple hours if I'm lazy about it. I'll never fail. Just spam friendly interactions, then romance ones. Doesn't really matter which ones you pick. Done.
-Aspirations
Can't fail a tutorial checklist. Does it matter if I don't complete it anyway? Nope.
-Whims
Sims don't care if I get that bee box or not.
-Money
It's easy to gain money. Way way way too easy. Items are cheap too. I never fear the repoman.
-Emotions
Your family member died. Your spouse cheated. So what? Give it a couple sims hours. They're fine. Doesn't matter.
There's nothing in Sims 4 I fear the consequences of. Nothing matters to my Sims if it doesn't happen or even if it does. Family sim doesn't get that family? Doesn't matter. Romance sim doesn't romance? So what? That's why it's easy.
@carpe_diem I love this detail. Do you have a Twitter?
> Example of "shallow" gameplay: Reading. There are actually a heap of books for sims to choose from, but it doesn't matter what book a sim reads, as there's no record of it. It's like it didn't even happen.
>
> Possible solution:
> Use the Notebook to keep account of what books have been read by the sim.
> Why?
> 1. Adds a challenge, like completing a collection. A player can decide what genre is the sims favourite, and read all the books available in that genre, with a list they can refer back to to keep track.
> 2. Opportunity for deeper book gameplay, especially useful for sims with the Bookworm trait or those in book clubs. eg, Talk about ...specific book with other sim. Also, if a sim still has a book in their inventory, they can Recommend book ... to other sims and gift it to them.
>
>
>
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> Reading specific genres could be a Likes/Dislikes.
>
> Or, a separate Favourites <3 Category could be added, especially useful for book genres, movie genres, specific types of foods and drink.
Adding a Collection featuring books would be a great idea. I like collections and filling them out, this would be a good reason to buy books. There's really no reason to buy any given book over any other at present.
Maybe sims would also be bored by reading a book they've already read.
My unpopular thoughts about TS4... I would like more options for specific packs. I should be able to go options and choose which occult appear in my save. I should be able to pick what climate and weather occurs in my save no matter where my Sim lives. It should not rain that much in the pets expansion. My Sim shouldn't need a high skill and a large machine to change the weather. I don't want a mod to do it either. I want options!
I just want to play the game. I don't want the game to play me. Too many pop-ups. Useless tasks that have no impact. I want my sandbox. I just want to play. Example: The parenthood ask for advice and character traits should be optional. I mod to get rid of all of it. Stop breaking my immersion. I don't want teens to die on the sidewalk because they got a pimple. I know how to play and get my Sims work. I don't need constant job offers or messages about signing up for jobs when my Sim works from home. I just want to play without interruptions. Let me choose when they take a gig and if they have a job leave them alone.
Thanks again!
1. Opportunities & Whims
I often find myself hitting a dead end on Sims 4, running out of things to do and it feeling a bit like Groundhog Day not matter which family I play. Whims don’t seem to be as big a part of the game as they were previously in Sims 2 & 3 - I forget they are even their with their generic symbols. The goals are no longer specific to the sim like ‘x wants to go on a date with x’ or ‘get a job as an x’ and it does seem that Aspirations are now the focus however they are the same goals for each and every Sim, meaning I’m doing the same goals over and over.
My sim’s storyline would often depend on what their wants were and therefore take me through their storyline by completing them when I liked the suggestions. I also really wish that Sims 4 had the same opportunities and community events that Sims 3 did. It made the sims interesting by having different opportunities for work or personal and perhaps completing something for a bonus at work or delivering cookies to a neighbour. My favourite were the celebrity opportunities - film commercial, attend event etc.
I just feel like there’s not much more to do than go to work, get promoted, tick off an aspiration and repeat. Bring in some rabbit hole activities (like the volunteering for example!) that give the sims more activities/tasks/goals to achieve that get them out of the house! Rather than playing violin for 8 hours on the weekend when they’re not at work.....
2. Depth to Relationships - Particularly Romantic
The storyline I tend to play the most is having a Sim work their way through their career whilst trying to find a love interest. Enter a few dates, engagement and eventually wedding and children and repeat with said children. I do think Sims2 & 3 had more depth when it came to relationships and particularly romantic ones. Sims 2 had turn on and offs so you were more compatible if you met these and had chemistry. Also Sims 3 with compatible star signs and ‘we have so much in common, I’d love to get to know you better’ as well as online dating. Sims 4 doesn’t have this, its sort of just pick one, become their friend and go with it. I’d love a separation of Sims you spark with more or really connect with and some sort of compatibility/attraction component so that you could go on a few dates and click with some and not others to find ‘the one’. The likes and dislikes were such a great addition to the game but they don’t mean anything when it comes to relationship or even whims - they just add a mood let. It would be nice to have sims have things in common and that have some sort of effect, or potentially be polar opposites and not get along at all - or even have one sim interests and not the other! ‘Sorry, I only like you as a friend.’
3. Teens!
I do find teenagers pretty boring and lacking the depth and opportunities they had in both Sims 3 and 2. They do seem to be more or less adults who have mood swings on occasion. Would love to bring back some opportunities such as sneaking out like in Sims 2 and getting grounded if caught or brought home by police. Skipping school, additional after school activities, teenage dating and going steady, sleepovers, throwing parties while parents are out etc. I think Sims 3 did the the field trips, prom and graduation really well. Another favourite is trying to get your kids into private school like in Sims 2. I would be more interested in teens if they could get more of a teenage/high school experience, adding some depth to your studious/geekier sims vs your rebellious/getting into trouble sims.
I think when people say they want "gameplay" they mean traits having in-game purposes
[b]Trait Gameplay
[/b]Loner trait makes social skill increase when alone or decrease when interacting with other Sims.
[b]Lot Improvements:
[/b]businesses where you can live in. (MIXED-USE)
Lot Improvements- We have all the items to make a bakery, but can't call the lot a bakery.
Lots for Toddlers, because they don't have anywhere to go/do
Being able to work at your own stores or more freedom in selecting who works at your store for storytelling reasons.
Being able to select and apply as a roommate.
[b]CAS Improvements
[/b]More Male Clothes with a feminine edge but not necessarily too feminine, or just trendier clothes in general.
Since I almost exclusively play with male Sims this is a big deal.
Clothes inspired by ASOS, Tiktok, or influencers
More elegant clothes that aren't necessarily dresses and suits.
Clothes that match or can mix and match better
Less abstract pants for men, because they have few pants as it is
Male clothes with accessories incorporated such as neckerchiefs
[b]GAME PACK REFRESH IDEAS
[/b]Butlers/Bone Hilda can use the vacuum.
Doctor's office being more integrated into the game
Also the detective/police being able to arrest you for streaking or other shenanigans.
[b]Job Integration:
[/b]Incorporating jobs already in the game into jobs you can join like Yoga Instructor, Mailman, etc
[b]FACE & FACIAL PRESETs
[/b]Because the Sims face presets are so limited, I find Sims have a bad case of same face syndrome.
So more presets for noses, mouth, and more premade faces could help diversify Sims.
Just a quick question before I start: Why when I invite a vampire friend during the night it says they are sleeping??? You might want to work on that. :D
The last time I played sims it was Sims 2 and comparing now to Sims 4 it was way more flowy, it had loads of totally random events that were autonomously initiated by our sims and thought & talk bubbles actually had more meaning. This game is lacking surprise events.
Shopping: I remember in Sims 2, my sim bought a lot and made a whole mall, I was able to have different stores and restaurants and all in one place.
And why are we limited on the number of lots and worlds? Sims 2 had totally open world-building mode, why Sims 4 doesn't?
City living is disappointing, why are we only able to play penthouses? And of course, it totally lacks space for lots of nightclubs, restaurants and so on.
I find the gameplay of Sims 4 way behind Sims 2. :#
I hope this helps :)
-Choices resulting in more meaningful/ lasting consequences
-More unexpected events. Things like prank calls, job chance cards, and unscheduled holidays are a start, but there needs to be more of these types of events, especially in the base game.
-More real world clothing options. Right now, most of the clothing is aspirational, but I would love to see clothing that's outdated, dirty, worn, ill-fitting. I would also love more clothing suitable for elders.
-More life state-specific gameplay
Thanks for your time!
To me, a higher level of challenge would involve changes to at least skills, relationships, emotions, school and work.
What comes to depth in gameplay, I would like to see talents and weaknesses (in relation to skills), more varied (but also harder and not so one-sided) relationships and more traits/other personality modifiers per sim to mimic having a _personality_. Especially I would want to see more _meaningful Interactions_ between sims! I'll try and break these things down for clarity and elaborate a bit further.
CHALLENGE
or What's lacking in challenge and how I think it could be improved:
Skills. Generally it feels too easy to progress in all the skills. I feel like sims should have weaknesses and talents that could modify the experience of skill building and make it more meaningful and give sims more personality. Maybe we could have these modifiers in CAS to be able to create more diverse sims? I know traits affect how fast a sim can learn some specific skill but we only have 3 to give and there are a lot of skills, so I wouldn't want to burn all my trait slots into trying to mimic talents and weaknesses as the traits portray things differently anyway. I know we have a reward trait that makes learning ALL skills easier but I never use it because the game is too easy already and it's not realistic to have someone be good at absolutely everything. Being able to pick what our sims are naturally good/bad at would give them more personality and depth and add some difficulty to the game when not all skills are learned as easily.
Relationships. It's too easy to get friends and find a spouse. Especially it bugs me that relationships are so one-sided. Why do both of the interacting sims gain exactly as much relationship bits for each interaction? In real life I might think more highly of someone than they do of me or vice versa. There's no such thing as unrecruited love in the Sims 4. :( For both storytelling and realism I wish we could have our sims have a crush on someone but maybe they don't feel the same way and then we should really work hard to impress them. It would make sense that sims' traits and preferences and their shared sentiments and lifestyles would affect how their relationship (friendship and romantic) evolves. I saw some people suggest an attraction system and I second this. And relationship culling! This is more on the gameplay depth level but I really wish we could choose some relationships to never cull! It's so immersion breaking that sims completely forget the existence of their own relatives! It is realistic to forget some townie that you talked to once at a food stall but how can you completely forget your cousins or school friends? It's super annoying to try to have a wedding or some other family reunion but you can't invite everyone because you forgot them. Completely.
Emotions. Sims seem to always be in a positive mood. Even the loss of a loved one is forgotten after a nice meal and cup of coffee, sitting in a beautiful room on a comfy sofa, listening to some nice music. The emotion system should be revamped to create more challenge to the game. I would expect sims to be "Fine" most of the time and when they have a negative emotion, it should power over the constant happiness. The uncomfortable mood should lessen the feeling of happiness whereas now it's just a total sum of the moodlets where the positive ones always overpower the negative ones. Also I think there used to be a "perfect emotion" for every career but it was removed? This sounds like the extra challenge we all crave. I applaud you for bringing on the lifestyles, they seem to be a step in the right direction! The emotions they bring are.. often quite intense but at least they have an effect! Having said that, I wish we could have some more different lifestyles included in the future.
School and work. Especially school seems to be very easy and I have noticed that after getting an "A" grade my child/teen sim doesn't need to do homework anymore because the grades drop so slowly. This should be addressed. Maybe the homework activities could be a bit more varied and we could get subject homework? This would also bring more depth to the gameplay. Let's say my child sim is good at mental tasks but not so talented in creativity, for example, so they would do well at maths homework and struggle when asked to write a story. Then it wouldn't be so smooth sailing all the time. I wish we could get tests at school! I'm sure some of Discover university gameplay aspects could be brought to normal schools for kids and teens? They could get nervous before a test or feel peaceful after studying all night! For adult sims, working and gaining promotions is way too easy and we get tons of money for no effort really. To start with, I wish we had some kind of a job application process to make things a bit more difficult. Especially with Discover university we could have required degrees to be able to progress further in certain careers but even in base game it shouldn't be that easy to just go and say "Hey I want this job". Maybe we could have a job application and some careers would have minimum requirements for certain skills to be able to apply for the position?
DEPTH
or How I feel we could have more depth to gameplay:
Skills. I really wish for some reviewing of the skills, especially cooking and handiness. If I'm level 0 at handiness, why do I even attempt to repair the washing machine? It would make sense that like the upgrades, the ability to repair appliances would also be unlocked with increasing skill level. Maybe you could still try and possibly die trying? This would give a reason to sometimes call the repair sim NPC or, if you know someone with high level of handiness, ask them to do it? This would bring both some challenge but especially a more meaningful experience.
The worst/least realistic to me is cooking. Any sim living alone will reach lvl 10 in cooking in very little time. Zoomers delivery is a wonderful thing though, so not all sims have to become super chefs in a week but the problem still persists. I'd love to see a system where you have to learn to make every recipe so they're not always automatically good quality. (For those who wish for an easier experience, maybe checking the recipe book before cooking would increase the chances of a better meal.) After skill level 3 it seems impossible to make poor quality food which does not seem realistic and is quite frankly boring. If there truly were difficulty levels in recipes (there seemingly is since new recipes are unlocked after levelling up in cooking.. but that's the catch - they're only unlocked) it would make sense that you might not get it right the first time, and to truly achieve an excellent quality meal with a level 9 recipe you would have to make it at least 3-5 times in your life. Making a perfect dish should be a real challenge. This would make the game feel more alive, so that young parents would struggle a little to try to get their kids eat the food even though mommy burned the casserole. Achieving a perfect lvl 10 gourmet cooking dish would now be something that not every sim could achieve unless you really practise that skill and suddenly the cooking skill would start to feel interesting.
I love the programming skill but I wish we could do more with it. Maybe some of the household appliances would have upgrades that required programming instead of handiness? Or make improvements to that sims Alexa thingy? Maybe you could hack the neighbour's Xmas lights or their fire/burglar(?) alarm for fun with high enough mischief skill. I wish skills were combined in some activities!
Traits. Even with the preferences, it's hard to make unique sims with only 3 traits. I'd have to add that some of them are a bit too much to use (goofballs sabotage their own toilet every day, mean and evil sims just generally seem so extreme that I don't really want to create such characters and I don't think that choosing a vegetarian or low-lactose diet should be a third of your personality) which really brings down the pool to choose from. Maybe we could have minor traits and major traits? So that cat/dog lover, vegetarian etc. could be those minor traits that are additional to actual major traits (the ones that are really about emotions and hobbies) and maybe then our sims would feel more like having a personality. Personally I just think we need more slots, especially to kids and teens. Kids feel just so empty and lacking in personality because their personality literally is that one trait. And character flaws! We need more negative traits and possibly a trait slot that is actually dedicated for a negative trait because no one is perfect and only the most boring sims have only positive traits.
Preferences. I love them! We just need more and more slots for each sim. :) There's so many things that go under the category "fitness" but they're all very different activities. I wish we were able to make a sim that for example loves basketball and swimming, hates football and is indifferent to ice skating. How about playing cards? Tanning? Chess? Doing homework? Pet training? I would expect sims' preferences to have more effect on their relationship building. You like snowboarding and knitting too? Cool, we should hang out!
Consequences. There seem to be so few. Do clumsy sims fail more often at things? Doesn't seem so or then it's tuned down so much that I haven't noticed any difference. Sometimes when my sim does an activity they dislike, I get no effect. I think they should get a buff each time they do something disliked, at least if it's for longer than about 5 sim minutes. When I get a chance card at work, it doesn't really seem to do much. Unless it's one of those where I get the options laid out to me (you'll gain fame but lose your job) and it would be so much better if there was a real choice and I didn't know the outcomes beforehand.
Aspirations. We desperately need more aspirations and more varied aspirations. They should be more difficult to accomplish and seem less like tutorials to the game. The individual tasks should be about more varying activities like collecting stuff, doing social interactions, organising events, maybe getting a promotion, visiting places and observing events or phenomena and less about levelling up a certain skill. Not saying it shouldn't include skill building but the aspirations are too often about maxing a certain skill eventually. Maybe gaining level 5 could be enough and concentrate more on different activities rather than spamming just one.
Improved social interactions, requests. This is what I MOST miss in the game! Sims should be able to do more things together and have more situationally relevant conversations and most of all, be able to ask other sims to do stuff! I'm constantly missing in my gameplay that sims could _indirectly_ control other sims' behaviour (but that should Not mean that it would always succeed). Examples: I'd want to ask my roommate to make coffee. If they're on a good mood, they'll gladly do it or if we're not really friends, maybe they'll refuse. I'd like to be able to ask another sim to help clean. It doesn't matter that I'm able to control both sims and I could just direct the other sim to do laundry. It's completely different (in terms of storytelling and Immersion) to be able to ask another sim to clean, repair, cook, tend garden, check on kids or even get a job than to just direct that sim to do it. Especially when dealing with guests/roommates at your house when you can't direct them, it would make such a difference to be able to ask them to help out in some way. Maybe it's your handy mom visiting so you'd ask her to repair the broken dish washer? I'd absolutely love that. Even more cool would be that in addition to this, another sim might ask my sim the same! Like no, you just kicked over my trashcan, I won't be making any coffee for you or if I'm visiting a good friend and they need help with something, of course I'd do it! And after making coffee/tea I wish I could direct them to grab some! Just like we can "Call to meal" it would make sense to be able to "Call to get drink". It feels weird to have a visitor and then unlike in real life I have no way of directing my guests to simply have a cup of coffee with me. And speaking of guests, I want to be able to introduce other sims! Like "Hi mom, this is my new girlfriend!" or "Hi Bob, this is my colleague".
So far we've had some good improvement lately (sentiments, lifestyles, preferences, cooking together) and I hope you will keep improving! I hope those aspects mentioned are being expanded as well. I feel we need more sentiments because they are getting a little repetitive. Same goes for preferences and lifestyles. Some possible ideas for new lifestyles: a "High maintenance" sim would enjoy pampering spa treatments, more luxurious foods and drinks and they would tend to avoid household chores and other burdensome activities, a "Creature of the night" sim would usually stay up late and get up late, they would enjoy nightlife in the clubs or maybe just a quiet internet café at night, as long as they don't need to drag their butt out of their house too early in the morning, and an "Occultist" sim would enjoy the company of ghosts, vampires, plant sims and all those other exciting occult sims, enjoy doing any occult related activities or studying about them in books and suffer from boredom when dealing with mere mortals. After having written all that, I'm not sure if Lifestyles are basegame but I hope so because they're great! :D
Thanks for reading through all this, I spent a good hour writing it! Sul sul!
In The Sims 2 the sims where just somehow... more different to each other you'll need to ask how that was done if you don't know already but it made it so fun and immersive, i mean a lot of things were the same about them but somehow they didn't feel the same either and they were just more expressive in the animations used when chatting and other social interactions.
Then toddlers would dance to the radio, Kids and teens would act up when they had a bad relationship with one or both of their parents or sometimes they'd run to hug them when they came home if they have a good relationship and then that only happened with certain personalities, then they'd run around the house more Autonomously in a way that made them feel like real independent people minus watching tv all the time lol. The Toddlers run around and play a lot more but as they get to a Teenager they aren't so autonomous anymore and just really flat.
The sims still aren't scared about things so much either nor do they have worries like they used to in TS2, i think worrying about their toddler falling asleep on the floor was a bit much but they would worry about their kids even in the base game and the Aspirations had worries and fears in the negative ones, i think worries were tied to the Aspirations but they were also tied to a bunch of social interactions so i think you could add them back without the Aspirations.
The Sims would also get jealous when other sims attempted to flirt with their lover lol although the amount of fights and drama that broke out in TS2 was way too much you'd go to a Community Lot and boom... there's at least 1 or 2 fights happening or just some random sim going around bullying certain sims just cos their personalities seemingly didn't get along but that was clearly something gone wrong there with the programming lol we just want them to be jealous and react but not continue fighting each other as if they have some urge to keep fighting.
I also agree on there being there no consequences or really actually getting sick i wish they did... even in TS2 they got sick with The Flu and then it only took a bowl of Grandma's Soup to get better lol they need to go through it for an entre 1 week where it's worse for the first 5 days then just sniffles for the last 2 days before it's gone and then more soup recipes and some medicines like Lemsips or Cough Medicine to help them get through it, it would be really fun looking after them while they're off sick from work
Feedback on Challenge
It's always just been way way too easy and too easy to cheat as well as much as sometimes it's useful due to some programme flaws you can't fix like needing to max out their Needs in certain situations or for being creative when building, then it's too easy to give them money making them rich with just 1 cheat, then it's too easy to make them rich just by selling things even The Sims 2 and i worked out what the cap was for a Business which was like 45k i think but that's per day lol you'll be a millionaire in like in a matter of a few sim weeks.
Now in TS4 it's even easier where people can earn money from selling almost anything they open up a store, sell it then close it lol doesn't take long to get rich... and now you've got multiple Workbenches and able to sell stuff on the street, and then there's how much you make just from selling grown food with zero costs to them for selling it even at home lol. I mean it's nice to be able to do that but they get rich way way too fast but the worth of crops needs to be reduced and then i think a way to register on the computer that your a seller (where you pick what your selling) where there will start to be a charge per day like... you'll have to work that out how much is enough to charge but it makes it harder to earn and feels like sort of a real business i mean... Where do those fruit and veg go when they're sold? lol it just needs to feel a bit more real while making it a harder challenge to earn money. Make it harder to get promoted too the series of requirements is too easy and quickly completed.
Feedback for Building
I just think we really really need The Color Wheel back that used to be in TS3 to be able to create different types of homes and actually have matching furniture, flooring, walls etc... right now it's too limited and too sandboxy and it was alright for TS1 cos it was new but not now when we have much better Building Tools yet we're limited by just the items we're given and what it looks like, How many times can you use them before you get bored?.
We need more flexibility and making things any color we want will help with that you just need to give a tutoriel to explain what HTML and CSS Hex Codes are which are easy to just copy and paste from the internet these days and you could create The Color Wheel in a way we can see the colors better like some photo editing programmes have where we can more easily slide the little circle over the spectrum of colors to find what color we want but also enter a HTML or CSS Color Code if we want to, the circular kind is a bit harder to work with and i usually struggle to find a color i want too much, so i'd go with the easier rectangular type instead, if you do decide to add it back is (please please add it back *pout* lol).
My short Herstory, I’ve been playing The SIMS for the duration. Was acclimated with The SIMS, fell deeply in love with SIMS 2 (my all time fav), got a new generation into The SIMS with My SIMS on the wii (my baby sister, and 3 of my nieces are still Simmers), played a bit with SIMS 3 (didn’t really like it) and am currently living & lovin my SIMS 4 life. Thank You. As a stage 3 cancer survivor, playing The SIMS has provided me with soo much fun time, alleviating the stress of my chemo-cocktail. As a child of the 60s, The SIMS is my Digital Barbies.
Consider this, when we are in the gallery or a world and select a family to play, it would be great if each SIMs’ employment status could also be displayed. My game play is very immersive and sometimes I don’t remember who has what job. For example, when I'm doing a wedding, I'd like to hire the SIM that has the photographer job, as opposed to using any available sim to take the pictures.
Also want to thank you for designing the code in a way that allows it to be modified. You have laid a platform whereby
Simmers make the game their own by creating CAS and Build/Buy items to more individualize the playing experience. With it, you have created a whole new employment opportunity. In addition, Simmers have channels and are filmmakers. You have opened opportunities for many people and if they have not properly thanked you, please accept mine. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!
Again, thank you for giving my Barbie dreams life. Have an awesome day and stay safe.
Ciao, MsDSweets
On YouTube: Simmin' with MsDSweets - Enjoy, Comment, Like and Subscribe!
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Thank you for giving us this chance to let you know what we think. anyways, Over the 6 (almost 7) years that Sims 4 has been out there has been a crazy amount of work put in but there is always more to be added and fixed.
in the overall game, there should be a tone that matches the grass and the sidewalk perfectly that way we can start making actual drive ways like some simmers wish, but we cant because sometimes it just looks a tad bit weird since we don't have that match. there could also be cars that the sims can drive even if its two colors so be it, it would just be nice to see our sims taking a nice drive instead of walking or biking to there destination, especially if there going to a different world, to me i feel like no one can walk across to a different "state" (world) that fast to get to work or to go to a club.
now as someone who plays on the Xbox it would be nice if you added some things in the game options. Sometimes the "mouse" or the sticks on the controller move to fast and it would be nice if there was a option to move it a bit slower, reason I'm mentioning this is because i have problems with it and I'm sure others do to. But I also babysit kids who absolutely love playing Sims 4 but cries or gets upset because the "mouse" moves to fast in the Sims and they don't know why it does it and i have to tell them its ok and that its just how the game and controller work. secondly, it would be nice if we could change the brightness in the sims whenever we needed to because sometimes ill play in the dark and my eyes have to readjust so much because of how bright it is. i mean i understand if its not in your interest to fix stuff in the Xbox or PlayStation version but it would be nice for the few of us who do use the Xbox or PlayStation rather then PC.
i also wish that for pregnant sims that we could possible at a gender reveal party or a baby shower in the base game just to make it a bit more fun. were the sim can pop a balloon, slice a cake, do a treasure hunt, or old wives tales just to figure out the babies gender. and then to have it were the sims friends and family give the pregnant sim presents for her and the baby.
another thing you could add in is maybe a waterpark or some other fun places the sims can go that are simple and can be put in the base game without having to make a whole pack for it because there are simmers out there that cant get the packs because they don't have the money to afford it, or there are teens that don't have a job or cant get a job or/and don't want to use there parents money. i mean i understand that you have to make money but you should also consider your audience and the type of audience that get sims like teens or people that don't have money like others do. i would just like to see something in the base game that's more exciting that doesn't include the packs.
we have these walls that we can change the height with but cant change the length which sucks because it would just be nice to have a wall that we could change the length if we needed to to make the house the way we want it.
i like the bunk beds you added for the teens but why not the toddlers, i mean you could make a bunk bed for the toddlers and then we get see the adorable elder sibling or parent maybe grandparent lift the kid on to the second bunk and after awhile the toddler fully learns how to climb the bunk bed without any help i mean how CUTE would that be.
as my sister says she wants to see other pets that are in the wild like unicorns, zebras, like in the sims three it could be in the secret worlds after all they really do need to be added onto no offence but i would love to see some secret animals roaming in the secret worlds ones that you could be friends with or ride etc. but this could be added to any secret worlds not just the ones in the base game but the others like for the aliens maybe have some alien pets to go with it. the secret worlds are just so plain there's nothing to do there but fish or getting plants or frogs.
now back to the main thing what i would like to see is more fun in the base game that isn't a pack for once. it would change my experience wildly i mean i would be thrilled to see some of the stuff others and i have said for the base game maybe some in past packs if possible just to give us like a basically free pack for base game i mean maybe a free pack for like 4 or 7 days would be cool now that i think of it. its just with the base game you add a little every time you add a pack but i think its time that you added on to base game mayjorly. i would mainly like to see more done to the Xbox and PlayStation options and the secret worlds. now as i always say when writing something big, sorry if it was to much or i repeated i just am very passionate about some stuff.
Sims need to have a higher risk of bad outcomes based on their skills/traits- low handiness? Death by electrocution when repairing electrical items. Low cooking skill? Even more likely to start fires. No brave trait? Unable to autonomously put out fires. Stuff like that!
Overhaul of build item costs and update in career income/selling crafted items and harvestables - It feels like everything is too cheap to buy, and earning money is too easy! Especially when it comes to the bigger or more luxurious items (I mean, the giant Backyard Conservatory is only 1500!?).
Make emotions more integrated into gameplay. At the moment a bad mood (sad, tense, etc) can be a mild inconvenience, but sims should either refuse to do any skill building activities while in that mood, or have the speed of skill building greatly reduced based on their mood. Then mood altering items would actually come in useful! Also, the Happy mood should be more likely to be overtaken by other moods - make happiness harder to work for.
Likes and dislikes are one of the best additions so far and it would be great to see them go further in terms of gameplay - for example, a sim who hates pop music shouldn't autonomously dance to it, they should be more annoyed/change the station to their liked music/throw a tantrum. Relationships should also be harder for sims who have opposing interests. Turn ons and turn offs would also be great for relationship depth.
Photo album - at the moment, all photos in the photo gallery are visible for all households at once, it would be nice if each family had their own compiled photos so you can look over a family's legacy with ease. An in game photo album that the sims (and the player!) can look at and reminisce would be amazing for legacy family depth.
Thanks! :)
On YouTube: Simmin' with MsDSweets - Enjoy, Comment, Like and Subscribe!
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I miss having a herd of wild horses chill in my yard and making my cat give people rude introductions. I want them to scratch people.
Animals are now useless objects that just complain the whole time. My cat is literally red all the time and I have no idea why. I nearly kill my sim wasting all my time trying to make this stupid cat happy just let me be the cat.