You are right about GTA having only minor advances but remember it was designed on an old engine and is being played on an old system, PS3. I think that's why we don't see so much difference. If I'm not mistaken, the PC version will be a larger upgrade because it is built on a new engine. Could be wrong but I think I remember reading that somewhere
While I wholeheartedly agree with this, I have no reason to believe TS4 will be sooo much better just because they intend to strip the game back to bare bones. Go play an older SimCity then go play the new SimCity. The problem is its different people working on EA's games today than during TS2. People got moved around to different projects. Many underestimate the importance of the actual people working video games like these as though you can replace every member of a rock band and its going to be the same or just as good.
Here is exactly what I'm talking about, take note just how many different people there are between the two. That includes some pretty important roles like art direction.
Clearly they threw more money at TS3 but it was the actual people working on and leading TS2 that made all the difference. TS3 couldn't outsell TS2 either. Anyway, this is why I have no faith in The Sims' franchise. Its a different band every time they hit the stage.
I'm not placing my faith in 4 yet either, in fact ts3 has made me very wary of 4 in the first place. All these cuts for optimization doesn't exactly mean dev's have decided to invest in depth or detail of gameplay across the board either. The comment on car animations proves that much. I am just glad to move on from 3 period whether i move on to 4 still remains up to EA, I haven't seen gameplay and how it is yet to make a decision.
However, I'm not blinded by the ooo's and ahhh's of other games. I know enough about development to know it's usually give and take with these kinds of things. Emphasize too much of one area leaves another lacking. Even when there are different developers on the team, if the games goals and agenda's change, the focus of that game has changed. Sims 2 was heavily focused on family and relationships. Sims 3 was heavily focused on YA and open neighborhoods with heavy customization. Sims 4 heavily focused on sims animations and emotions (as far as we know). Where dev's put their attention to we're going to find it hurts where the attention is not. Look at it like this, it's more like scales and as long as i've played this game EA has never been able to balance those scales. Really, all games and genre's have this not just sims. I've played since sims 1 and the only thing i've found consistent with this game is that you can't have it all.
I'm sure there are a number of factors that play into the problems with these games. One of them being what you just mentioned, shuffling dev's around. The other is lack of communication and information between dev and player. Third falls more mixing genre's together and targeting demographics that are the opposite of the games nature. Time, money, resources all play a factor, and then you have the investors and corporate part of the company influencing the game's direction.
While I agree 100% with you about the issues the open world and customisation caused in Sim 3. That game was released in 2009, we have had 5 years of technology advancement, TS4 should be able to now deliver the smoothness that TS3 lacks without loss of huge and important features.
Have you guys played the new GTA5?? While I was not expecting something of that quality for TS4 I was at least expecting something better. And before someone quotes me and goes on about how GTA5 had a really big budget and lots of people, the sims is EA (one of the worlds largest gaming companies) biggest cash cow, it has (or at least should) have the same budget and number of people.
I haven't played gta5, it's not my cup of tea if you know what I mean. Though the males in my family love it and have been show casing it to me. I hate to say this but the technology between then and 5 years ago haven't made huge leaps and bounds. Not even software. Sure we've been able to do more micro type computers etc. and speed up things, but roughly it's all just about remained the same. There aren't dramatic improvements and it's almost like technology is reaching it's peak so to speak. So what ts4 should be able to provide without the loss can be said but the question is how should it be done?
I wont say anything about budget and people. Sims 4 has a team of 100 and probably a fairly nice sized budget itself. However gta5 operates and plays differently than sims 4 as well that's something i think we as a fanbase need to take into consideration when we're comparing these games. GTA V doesn't offer everything the sims offers either in the same way that Sims 4 doesn't offer everything that GTA V does. So we are going to find differences in the gameplay that affect the style choices of the game and the graphic quality. Even the demographic of gta V is very different from sims and we as simmers are going to have to come to terms with that if we want to find ways to improve sims that are realistic and reasonable. Notice I am not saying these things that people want can't be done but I am saying the way we want them have to be implemented differently than they are. Right now that's a little to late for that unless their going to scrap it all and start over.
... lol, I completely forgot about my previous post,
I agree we will never get the same quality of graphics as GTA series in the Sims series. But I think seeing the improvements GTA and other games series have made in the past few years that is why many of us are so disappointed with what they have announced with sims 4.
As least that how it is for me.
That being said while I'm disappointed because they could have done so much more, I'm still on the fence for whether I'll buy the game or not,
As this point I might just buy the base game (and no expansion packs) since I think it will be more fun to mod than to play,
LOL....I was being a little facetious but redid my math...it's actually more like 20 years and if some are in their late 50's now....that's fast approaching the average life expectancy. Most of the Sim fans I know are in their late 50's.
I hope the Sims is around a long time too, but with the current direction it seems to be heading, I am very doubtful it will make it past 5.
Dear Lord, you mean I'm going to kick the bucket before I even experience the joys of being a senior citizen? No discount dining for me? No weekly specials? No retirement? That deeply depresses me...
I think you need to recalculate again. The main demographic for the latest installment of The Sims series is women over 30. Check this link, if you don't believe me: http://sims3project.wikispaces.com/sims+3+demographics
I'm living proof of that research. Been playing The Sims since day 1 and don't intend to stop until I'm dead (which, by my calculations, will be at least 50 years from now, as long as I remain relatively healthy). That is, unless EA manages to make a complete mess of this series, which they seem to be well on their way to doing. I still have faith in them, but it is getting less and less with each day that they fail to release any edge-of-my-seat gotta-have-it info on the Sims 4.
... lol, I completely forgot about my previous post,
I agree we will never get the same quality of graphics as GTA series in the Sims series. But I think seeing the improvements GTA and other games series have made in the past few years that is why many of us are so disappointed with what they have announced with sims 4.
As least that how it is for me.
That being said while I'm disappointed because they could have done so much more, I'm still on the fence for whether I'll buy the game or not,
As this point I might just buy the base game (and no expansion packs) since I think it will be more fun to mod than to play,
Thank you for understanding what I'm saying it's hard to explain all that for me. You know one of the solutions that I felt would have been good for the team to both optimize the game and keep CAST would have been a reduction in the size of the open map.
It would mean load screens for each individual style of neighborhood, but i think people miss traveling. However that might be better for a town map as a whole and more exciting. Smaller neighborhoods with a few houses and maybe two to three venues. So players can still jog and get that neighborhood feel. However, it's not so large the game is loading in a ton of textures. Each neighborhood should only utilize the textures and objects it's using as well. Normally this same thing happened with sims 2 cc, if you had too much cc you had long load times all the time through out the game, that was because the game is loading all content even ones not in use from build and buy. I think build and buy actually needs to be optimized itself as well as NPC inventory. Im not sure if it's possible to have build and buy operate separately from the maps. They implemented a catalog I honestly feel it should load and pull from it's own file. Maybe even just cleaning up build and buy organizing it better could help with performance.
Having cars spawn in an npc's inventory is also not optimizing the game, yet judging by grants response they still have cars that spawn. Even putting a clean up system and making sure npc's are not spawning things, cleans up performance. So I'm not sure if such a drastic task of removing CAST is the best answer here, but I'm well aware that things couldn't remain the same as sims 3, something has to change that is for sure. There were a number of other ways to optimize performance and they chose this one. It is very odd but than again as many are saying look at where the focus of the game shifted too this time. If you understand that these dev's don't clean up their coding, don't test their game, and don't put the time in detail than you'll know cast was removed to optimize performance that supports the emotion system and perhaps later in the series online play.
Why cause they aren't going to do the coding for each individual texture file. Every time you change something to blue you have to attach an emotion to it. That's a lot of coding and that's not helping performance either it increases the size of what needs to be loaded. Though i think this is silly people wanted emotions attached to gameplay and interactions. Not to emotions attached to objects, it's not even sentimental type emotions like i had this bear since i was a kid i love it. It's more of my couch is red so im in a sexy mood.
My concern is they didn't really fix the problem here either just exchanged it.
According to data compiled by the Social Security Administration:
A man reaching age 65 today can expect to live, on average, until age 84.
A woman turning age 65 today can expect to live, on average, until age 86.
And those are just averages. About one out of every four 65-year-olds today will live past age 90, and one out of 10 will live past age 95.
The government says I got a lot of simming time left and so do the rest of us. Sims 8 is looking better and better to me by the minute. As long as its not dumbed down and cruddy graphics. By then I want the sims to hop out of my computer and dance with me. Gangnam Style. With a Llama. With Chinese takeout and dessert.
Another popular game series that's been going on a long time is Dragon Quest. I played the first one about 22 years ago on my Nintendo. I got it free in the mail with some magazine. It was Dragon Warrior back then. So the sims has the potential to live on as long as we are still interested in it and keep clamouring for it.
... lol, I completely forgot about my previous post,
I agree we will never get the same quality of graphics as GTA series in the Sims series. But I think seeing the improvements GTA and other games series have made in the past few years that is why many of us are so disappointed with what they have announced with sims 4.
As least that how it is for me.
That being said while I'm disappointed because they could have done so much more, I'm still on the fence for whether I'll buy the game or not,
As this point I might just buy the base game (and no expansion packs) since I think it will be more fun to mod than to play,
Thank you for understanding what I'm saying it's hard to explain all that for me. You know one of the solutions that I felt would have been good for the team to both optimize the game and keep CAST would have been a reduction in the size of the open map.
It would mean load screens for each individual style of neighborhood, but i think people miss traveling. However that might be better for a town map as a whole and more exciting. Smaller neighborhoods with a few houses and maybe two to three venues. So players can still jog and get that neighborhood feel. However, it's not so large the game is loading in a ton of textures. Each neighborhood should only utilize the textures and objects it's using as well. Normally this same thing happened with sims 2 cc, if you had too much cc you had long load times all the time through out the game, that was because the game is loading all content even ones not in use from build and buy. I think build and buy actually needs to be optimized itself as well as NPC inventory. Im not sure if it's possible to have build and buy operate separately from the maps. They implemented a catalog I honestly feel it should load and pull from it's own file. Maybe even just cleaning up build and buy organizing it better could help with performance.
Having cars spawn in an npc's inventory is also not optimizing the game, yet judging by grants response they still have cars that spawn. Even putting a clean up system and making sure npc's are not spawning things, cleans up performance. So I'm not sure if such a drastic task of removing CAST is the best answer here, but I'm well aware that things couldn't remain the same as sims 3, something has to change that is for sure. There were a number of other ways to optimize performance and they chose this one. It is very odd but than again as many are saying look at where the focus of the game shifted too this time. If you understand that these dev's don't clean up their coding, don't test their game, and don't put the time in detail than you'll know cast was removed to optimize performance that supports the emotion system and perhaps later in the series online play.
Why cause they aren't going to do the coding for each individual texture file. Every time you change something to blue you have to attach an emotion to it. That's a lot of coding and that's not helping performance either it increases the size of what needs to be loaded. Though i think this is silly people wanted emotions attached to gameplay and interactions. Not to emotions attached to objects, it's not even sentimental type emotions like i had this bear since i was a kid i love it. It's more of my couch is red so im in a sexy mood.
My concern is they didn't really fix the problem here either just exchanged it.
LOL....I was being a little facetious but redid my math...it's actually more like 20 years and if some are in their late 50's now....that's fast approaching the average life expectancy. Most of the Sim fans I know are in their late 50's.
I hope the Sims is around a long time too, but with the current direction it seems to be heading, I am very doubtful it will make it past 5.
Dear Lord, you mean I'm going to kick the bucket before I even experience the joys of being a senior citizen? No discount dining for me? No weekly specials? No retirement? That deeply depresses me...
I think you need to recalculate again. The main demographic for the latest installment of The Sims series is women over 30. Check this link, if you don't believe me: http://sims3project.wikispaces.com/sims+3+demographics
I'm living proof of that research. Been playing The Sims since day 1 and don't intend to stop until I'm dead (which, by my calculations, will be at least 50 years from now, as long as I remain relatively healthy). That is, unless EA manages to make a complete mess of this series, which they seem to be well on their way to doing. I still have faith in them, but it is getting less and less with each day that they fail to release any edge-of-my-seat gotta-have-it info on the Sims 4.
Holy Simoly, that was the most sexist demographics write up I've seen in years -- and I AM a 30-year-old soap opera fan! I also own an XBox. I'm considering switching to Playstation now. Yikes.
According the xboc365.com, it is noted that the increase in female participation the Sims involves the concept of “shaping someone’s life in a tacky TV soap opera”.
Yes. Thanks for that, xboc365.com. I'm sure a we cootie infested females are why EA's life simulation game includes relationships. Because you don't have those in, say, GTA or God of War or... oh, wait! You do!
Or how about this gem?
This could be because many females are drawn to this type of game because it is less intimidating.
Oh, help me! I'm so intimidated by this big, bad video game. My estrogen levels automatically prohibit me from taking on the greater challenges intended for big, bad 17-year-old boys.
Excuse me while I giggle.
I, like you, hope to live a long time and to see this game continue to improve and impress me. I just don't think that particular write up on the demographics is, umm... the most reliable. The author seems to need to work out some of his issues regarding female gamers.
If I am in the target demographic, that's wonderful luck! I actually wouldn't mind following The Sims into the sunset. I enjoy the franchise. I liked TS3 a lot. No real complaints, just a few niggles. I liked TS2 and TS1, too. TS4, so far, looks like the emotions and CAS are going to be great. I think players would love these additions if they didn't come with the rumored setbacks. I hope EA pushes back the release date and gets the dev team working on putting in CASt and open worlds. They have time to listen to the fans. The smart money is on them wanting to take our money - which means they'll want to include things that make most of us happy. The more noise we make about customization and open worlds and the like, the more likely EA will put it in. They can't know what we want if we don't tell them.
Sorry, but I disagree. First, the Sims 4 is a step back, not even a gradual step forward. Not a little step back too but rather a giant leap. Second, WE need to feed our families too and can't be wasting our hard earned money on a game that is inferior to the game that was previously released. I see where you're coming from but it's not about wanting to rope us in for longer. It's about being too lazy and nonchalant about our wishes to give us what we want. What they are giving us in TS4 is minor, what they are taking away is major. Simple as that.
I have to disagree on some of your points, it is actually one step forward and one step back in some areas. By taking CAST out is a step back unless EA can replace it with something better and EA is not talking. The graphics and the showing of emotions is a step forward in my opinion While I may like the emotions it is only one point of the game and does not excite me. I rather they put the series in a hiatus state and come back when they can come up with fresher ideas and just provide more support to Sims 3 with items and making it more stable. EA does not put out much info therefore allowing rumors to popup on what is happening with the game. Sims 4 may make it and it may not and we will not find out until after the game launches.
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Sorry, but I disagree. First, the Sims 4 is a step back, not even a gradual step forward. Not a little step back too but rather a giant leap. Second, WE need to feed our families too and can't be wasting our hard earned money on a game that is inferior to the game that was previously released. I see where you're coming from but it's not about wanting to rope us in for longer. It's about being too lazy and nonchalant about our wishes to give us what we want. What they are giving us in TS4 is minor, what they are taking away is major. Simple as that.
I have to disagree on some of your points, it is actually one step forward and one step back in some areas. By taking CAST out is a step back unless EA can replace it with something better and EA is not talking. The graphics and the showing of emotions is a step forward in my opinion While I may like the emotions it is only one point of the game and does not excite me. I rather they put the series in a hiatus state and come back when they can come up with fresher ideas and just provide more support to Sims 3 with items and making it more stable. EA does not put out much info therefore allowing rumors to popup on what is happening with the game. Sims 4 may make it and it may not and we will not find out until after the game launches.
I agree that removing CASt wouldn't be a step back if they replaced it with something better, but only if that something better served the same purpose. Otherwise, no matter how you slice it, you've taken away a feature that was important to many people. Sure maybe they have something planned that will be similar to CASt only better but if so, I think they would have said that. All they said was, "We have confirmed at gamescom that CASt will not be in the base game". Would they not have added, "but we have something similar that we think the fans will like even better" or some other such quote? Believe me, I'd love to be wrong here because I love the sims and I was really looking forward to the game. I've never bashed any of the games or EPs and SPs before. Even when an EP was released that I knew wouldn't interest me overall, I would buy it because I knew there would be something in it I would like. For example, I'm not a fan of supernatural. I just prefer realism in my game. I bought the EP however because it had other things to offer. I liked that there would be phases to the moon and there would be content such as clothing and items that I would use. This is different. This is an entire game that has taken away features that are important to me. CASt allowed me to make hundreds of homes and community lots...each one completely different from the other in both layout and design. The high quality of graphics allowed me to take beautiful, realistic photos. Games aren't supposed to take chunks of features away and call it the next series in the set no matter what they end up adding. They should be perfecting what they have and then adding to that. TS4 is not a progressive game, it's like a separate game altogether...like Sims Social. That's just how I feel about it and maybe info will be released that will completely turn me around. I would love that but the history of the franchise doesn't leave me hopeful.
If I am in the target demographic, that's wonderful luck! I actually wouldn't mind following The Sims into the sunset. I enjoy the franchise. I liked TS3 a lot. No real complaints, just a few niggles. I liked TS2 and TS1, too. TS4, so far, looks like the emotions and CAS are going to be great. I think players would love these additions if they didn't come with the rumored setbacks. I hope EA pushes back the release date and gets the dev team working on putting in CASt and open worlds. They have time to listen to the fans. The smart money is on them wanting to take our money - which means they'll want to include things that make most of us happy. The more noise we make about customization and open worlds and the like, the more likely EA will put it in. They can't know what we want if we don't tell them.
I like TS3 a lot as well, and I agree with you on letting EA know. It's why I post, but I'm not really happy with TS4 myself. I know people are talking about current video games, but even video games that came out in 2008/2009 showed up EA...for instance Saints Row II (2008) has more than 3 voices, customizable walks and a whole colour pallet to chose from. Also a wide selection of clothing, and the skins and face molding were pretty good too. Mind you, it's mostly a shooter type game, but it does indeed have sandbox elements.
I just wonder if EA counts on a lot of Sims players not having experience with a lot of games and therefore not holding them to a higher standard. Some of the stuff they get away with in TS3 would be unthinkable even in some of their other titles...but then again, I'll give EA the benefit of the doubt and maybe that is where their focus is. I also know this is the only game of it's type and EA has no competition. At least for city simulators there were a few, and since Sim City had so many issues, Tropico 4 (and soon Tropico 5) more than filled their shoes and was a lot more fun to play. For a life sim, um, you may have "Animal Crossing" and old MMO Second Life type games.
If I am in the target demographic, that's wonderful luck! I actually wouldn't mind following The Sims into the sunset. I enjoy the franchise. I liked TS3 a lot. No real complaints, just a few niggles. I liked TS2 and TS1, too. TS4, so far, looks like the emotions and CAS are going to be great. I think players would love these additions if they didn't come with the rumored setbacks. I hope EA pushes back the release date and gets the dev team working on putting in CASt and open worlds. They have time to listen to the fans. The smart money is on them wanting to take our money - which means they'll want to include things that make most of us happy. The more noise we make about customization and open worlds and the like, the more likely EA will put it in. They can't know what we want if we don't tell them.
I like TS3 a lot as well, and I agree with you on letting EA know. It's why I post, but I'm not really happy with TS4 myself. I know people are talking about current video games, but even video games that came out in 2008/2009 showed up EA...for instance Saints Row II (2008) has more than 3 voices, customizable walks and a whole colour pallet to chose from. Also a wide selection of clothing, and the skins and face molding were pretty good too. Mind you, it's mostly a shooter type game, but it does indeed have sandbox elements.
I just wonder if EA counts on a lot of Sims players not having experience with a lot of games and therefore not holding them to a higher standard. Some of the stuff they get away with in TS3 would be unthinkable even in some of their other titles...but then again, I'll give EA the benefit of the doubt and maybe that is where their focus is. I also know this is the only game of it's type and EA has no competition. At least for city simulators there were a few, and since Sim City had so many issues, Tropico 4 (and soon Tropico 5) more than filled their shoes and was a lot more fun to play. For a life sim, um, you may have "Animal Crossing" and old MMO Second Life type games.
It's funny that you bring up Second Life. You're right; the Sims is sort of alone in its genre. Second Life was the closest I ever found. I actually played that pretty hard core for awhile. I don't play many games that don't offer a high degree of control. If the camera swings around too much or the colors and lighting is too bright, I get headaches. That's why I like the Sims' sandbox so much! The Sims and SL have pros and cons. At the end of the day, I came back to the Sims because I didn't like depending on other players online availability to advance my characters' stories. My Greek slave who was trying to undermine Rome by starting a slave rebellion? Waaaay less fun when no other rebels were online. Loved that guy, though. My steampunk time traveler? Kinda sucked when she got stuck in some other time period and the streets were empty. I think the lack of competition might be a big part of why EA makes some of the decisions in this franchise. Things don't have to be polished or perfect. Fans will buy it because there's no alternative.
That said, I still have high hopes for this franchise. So what if TS4 turns out to be a dud? I didn't like Super Mario Brothers 2, either. Super Mario Brothers 3? Loved it. Maybe if TS4 flops, it will just make TS5 that much better. Plenty of game franchises have taken missteps but lived to tell the tale.
I think I know why many things are not implemented in the Sims 4 . . . it is simply because they are no longer needed in the game. It is a new game intended to reach new players with different interests. The new game is based entirely on emotions and building and creativity (CASt) are no longer as important as they once were. Sure, EA will throw in a few bones to silence the howls of protest but that is as far as they go.
This is my opinion and I am allowed to express it. I have not trod on anyone's toes.
I think I know why many things are not implemented in the Sims 4 . . . it is simply because they are no longer needed in the game. It is a new game intended to reach new players with different interests. The new game is based entirely on emotions and building and creativity (CASt) are no longer as important as they once were. Sure, EA will throw in a few bones to silence the howls of protest but that is as far as they go.
This is my opinion and I am allowed to express it. I have not trod on anyone's toes.
I bet it has more to do with time and budget constraints. Nothing ever NEEDS to be in a game. It is a game after all. But the fact remains that a significant portion of the Sims fanbase are creative builders, so EA should seek to keep those fans happy too. Besides, I don't see how people who don't even currently play any of the games in the series are now suddenly going to be swayed by a "new emotions" system lol.
I think I know why many things are not implemented in the Sims 4 . . . it is simply because they are no longer needed in the game. It is a new game intended to reach new players with different interests. The new game is based entirely on emotions and building and creativity (CASt) are no longer as important as they once were. Sure, EA will throw in a few bones to silence the howls of protest but that is as far as they go.
This is my opinion and I am allowed to express it. I have not trod on anyone's toes.
I bet it has more to do with time and budget constraints. Nothing ever NEEDS to be in a game. It is a game after all. But the fact remains that a significant portion of the Sims fanbase are creative builders, so EA should seek to keep those fans happy too. Besides, I don't see how people who don't even currently play any of the games in the series are now suddenly going to be swayed by a "new emotions" system lol.
Perhaps in the same manner that they swayed people to purchase Sims2, or new simmers who purchased 3 for the first time...
I think I know why many things are not implemented in the Sims 4 . . . it is simply because they are no longer needed in the game. It is a new game intended to reach new players with different interests. The new game is based entirely on emotions and building and creativity (CASt) are no longer as important as they once were. Sure, EA will throw in a few bones to silence the howls of protest but that is as far as they go.
This is my opinion and I am allowed to express it. I have not trod on anyone's toes.
I bet it has more to do with time and budget constraints. Nothing ever NEEDS to be in a game. It is a game after all. But the fact remains that a significant portion of the Sims fanbase are creative builders, so EA should seek to keep those fans happy too. Besides, I don't see how people who don't even currently play any of the games in the series are now suddenly going to be swayed by a "new emotions" system lol.
I appreciate your comment and you could be right. Perhaps I should have said "Some of the things are not wanted by EA in the new game. EA seems bent on the idea that the new emotions thing is going to 'wow' a lot of new players.
I think I know why many things are not implemented in the Sims 4 . . . it is simply because they are no longer needed in the game. It is a new game intended to reach new players with different interests. The new game is based entirely on emotions and building and creativity (CASt) are no longer as important as they once were. Sure, EA will throw in a few bones to silence the howls of protest but that is as far as they go.
This is my opinion and I am allowed to express it. I have not trod on anyone's toes.
I bet it has more to do with time and budget constraints. Nothing ever NEEDS to be in a game. It is a game after all. But the fact remains that a significant portion of the Sims fanbase are creative builders, so EA should seek to keep those fans happy too. Besides, I don't see how people who don't even currently play any of the games in the series are now suddenly going to be swayed by a "new emotions" system lol.
Perhaps in the same manner that they swayed people to purchase Sims2, or new simmers who purchased 3 for the first time...
So far, the Sims 3 base game has actually sold far less copies than The Sims 2 base game has sold, it wasn't even nearly as successful. Players who weren't happy refused to move on, and I think that cost EA.
Now it's not that I don't think The Sims 4 will be successful, I just don't think a new emotion-based system alone is strong enough to sway a non-Sims player to join to the series. They probably couldn't even care to tell the difference between that and the moodlets/traits system TS3 has. So imo their current fans are more important, and cutting back a feature like cast which is used a lot by people who mainly enjoy building and decorating is a really bad move.
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I'm not placing my faith in 4 yet either, in fact ts3 has made me very wary of 4 in the first place. All these cuts for optimization doesn't exactly mean dev's have decided to invest in depth or detail of gameplay across the board either. The comment on car animations proves that much. I am just glad to move on from 3 period whether i move on to 4 still remains up to EA, I haven't seen gameplay and how it is yet to make a decision.
However, I'm not blinded by the ooo's and ahhh's of other games. I know enough about development to know it's usually give and take with these kinds of things. Emphasize too much of one area leaves another lacking. Even when there are different developers on the team, if the games goals and agenda's change, the focus of that game has changed. Sims 2 was heavily focused on family and relationships. Sims 3 was heavily focused on YA and open neighborhoods with heavy customization. Sims 4 heavily focused on sims animations and emotions (as far as we know). Where dev's put their attention to we're going to find it hurts where the attention is not. Look at it like this, it's more like scales and as long as i've played this game EA has never been able to balance those scales. Really, all games and genre's have this not just sims. I've played since sims 1 and the only thing i've found consistent with this game is that you can't have it all.
I'm sure there are a number of factors that play into the problems with these games. One of them being what you just mentioned, shuffling dev's around. The other is lack of communication and information between dev and player. Third falls more mixing genre's together and targeting demographics that are the opposite of the games nature. Time, money, resources all play a factor, and then you have the investors and corporate part of the company influencing the game's direction.
Is there really? I didn't know about this! :shock:
Budget,
And if you want to get into the technicals of IT Project Management then schedule too, as part of the Time, cost scope triangle.
I agree we will never get the same quality of graphics as GTA series in the Sims series.
As least that how it is for me.
That being said while I'm disappointed because they could have done so much more, I'm still on the fence for whether I'll buy the game or not,
As this point I might just buy the base game (and no expansion packs) since I think it will be more fun to mod than to play,
Dear Lord, you mean I'm going to kick the bucket before I even experience the joys of being a senior citizen? No discount dining for me? No weekly specials? No retirement? That deeply depresses me...
I think you need to recalculate again. The main demographic for the latest installment of The Sims series is women over 30. Check this link, if you don't believe me: http://sims3project.wikispaces.com/sims+3+demographics
I'm living proof of that research. Been playing The Sims since day 1 and don't intend to stop until I'm dead (which, by my calculations, will be at least 50 years from now, as long as I remain relatively healthy). That is, unless EA manages to make a complete mess of this series, which they seem to be well on their way to doing. I still have faith in them, but it is getting less and less with each day that they fail to release any edge-of-my-seat gotta-have-it info on the Sims 4.
Thank you for understanding what I'm saying it's hard to explain all that for me. You know one of the solutions that I felt would have been good for the team to both optimize the game and keep CAST would have been a reduction in the size of the open map.
It would mean load screens for each individual style of neighborhood, but i think people miss traveling. However that might be better for a town map as a whole and more exciting. Smaller neighborhoods with a few houses and maybe two to three venues. So players can still jog and get that neighborhood feel. However, it's not so large the game is loading in a ton of textures. Each neighborhood should only utilize the textures and objects it's using as well. Normally this same thing happened with sims 2 cc, if you had too much cc you had long load times all the time through out the game, that was because the game is loading all content even ones not in use from build and buy. I think build and buy actually needs to be optimized itself as well as NPC inventory. Im not sure if it's possible to have build and buy operate separately from the maps. They implemented a catalog I honestly feel it should load and pull from it's own file. Maybe even just cleaning up build and buy organizing it better could help with performance.
Having cars spawn in an npc's inventory is also not optimizing the game, yet judging by grants response they still have cars that spawn. Even putting a clean up system and making sure npc's are not spawning things, cleans up performance. So I'm not sure if such a drastic task of removing CAST is the best answer here, but I'm well aware that things couldn't remain the same as sims 3, something has to change that is for sure. There were a number of other ways to optimize performance and they chose this one. It is very odd but than again as many are saying look at where the focus of the game shifted too this time. If you understand that these dev's don't clean up their coding, don't test their game, and don't put the time in detail than you'll know cast was removed to optimize performance that supports the emotion system and perhaps later in the series online play.
Why cause they aren't going to do the coding for each individual texture file. Every time you change something to blue you have to attach an emotion to it. That's a lot of coding and that's not helping performance either it increases the size of what needs to be loaded. Though i think this is silly people wanted emotions attached to gameplay and interactions. Not to emotions attached to objects, it's not even sentimental type emotions like i had this bear since i was a kid i love it. It's more of my couch is red so im in a sexy mood.
My concern is they didn't really fix the problem here either just exchanged it.
According to data compiled by the Social Security Administration:
A man reaching age 65 today can expect to live, on average, until age 84.
A woman turning age 65 today can expect to live, on average, until age 86.
And those are just averages. About one out of every four 65-year-olds today will live past age 90, and one out of 10 will live past age 95.
The government says I got a lot of simming time left and so do the rest of us. Sims 8 is looking better and better to me by the minute. As long as its not dumbed down and cruddy graphics. By then I want the sims to hop out of my computer and dance with me. Gangnam Style. With a Llama. With Chinese takeout and dessert.
Another popular game series that's been going on a long time is Dragon Quest. I played the first one about 22 years ago on my Nintendo. I got it free in the mail with some magazine. It was Dragon Warrior back then. So the sims has the potential to live on as long as we are still interested in it and keep clamouring for it.
Thicker Than Thieves: A sim legacy story
Oh my gosh!
Holy Simoly, that was the most sexist demographics write up I've seen in years -- and I AM a 30-year-old soap opera fan! I also own an XBox. I'm considering switching to Playstation now. Yikes.
Yes. Thanks for that, xboc365.com. I'm sure a we cootie infested females are why EA's life simulation game includes relationships. Because you don't have those in, say, GTA or God of War or... oh, wait! You do!
Or how about this gem?
Oh, help me! I'm so intimidated by this big, bad video game. My estrogen levels automatically prohibit me from taking on the greater challenges intended for big, bad 17-year-old boys.
Excuse me while I giggle.
I, like you, hope to live a long time and to see this game continue to improve and impress me. I just don't think that particular write up on the demographics is, umm... the most reliable. The author seems to need to work out some of his issues regarding female gamers.
If I am in the target demographic, that's wonderful luck! I actually wouldn't mind following The Sims into the sunset. I enjoy the franchise. I liked TS3 a lot. No real complaints, just a few niggles. I liked TS2 and TS1, too. TS4, so far, looks like the emotions and CAS are going to be great. I think players would love these additions if they didn't come with the rumored setbacks. I hope EA pushes back the release date and gets the dev team working on putting in CASt and open worlds. They have time to listen to the fans. The smart money is on them wanting to take our money - which means they'll want to include things that make most of us happy. The more noise we make about customization and open worlds and the like, the more likely EA will put it in. They can't know what we want if we don't tell them.
I have to disagree on some of your points, it is actually one step forward and one step back in some areas. By taking CAST out is a step back unless EA can replace it with something better and EA is not talking. The graphics and the showing of emotions is a step forward in my opinion While I may like the emotions it is only one point of the game and does not excite me. I rather they put the series in a hiatus state and come back when they can come up with fresher ideas and just provide more support to Sims 3 with items and making it more stable. EA does not put out much info therefore allowing rumors to popup on what is happening with the game. Sims 4 may make it and it may not and we will not find out until after the game launches.
I agree that removing CASt wouldn't be a step back if they replaced it with something better, but only if that something better served the same purpose. Otherwise, no matter how you slice it, you've taken away a feature that was important to many people. Sure maybe they have something planned that will be similar to CASt only better but if so, I think they would have said that. All they said was, "We have confirmed at gamescom that CASt will not be in the base game". Would they not have added, "but we have something similar that we think the fans will like even better" or some other such quote? Believe me, I'd love to be wrong here because I love the sims and I was really looking forward to the game. I've never bashed any of the games or EPs and SPs before. Even when an EP was released that I knew wouldn't interest me overall, I would buy it because I knew there would be something in it I would like. For example, I'm not a fan of supernatural. I just prefer realism in my game. I bought the EP however because it had other things to offer. I liked that there would be phases to the moon and there would be content such as clothing and items that I would use. This is different. This is an entire game that has taken away features that are important to me. CASt allowed me to make hundreds of homes and community lots...each one completely different from the other in both layout and design. The high quality of graphics allowed me to take beautiful, realistic photos. Games aren't supposed to take chunks of features away and call it the next series in the set no matter what they end up adding. They should be perfecting what they have and then adding to that. TS4 is not a progressive game, it's like a separate game altogether...like Sims Social. That's just how I feel about it and maybe info will be released that will completely turn me around. I would love that but the history of the franchise doesn't leave me hopeful.
I like TS3 a lot as well, and I agree with you on letting EA know. It's why I post, but I'm not really happy with TS4 myself. I know people are talking about current video games, but even video games that came out in 2008/2009 showed up EA...for instance Saints Row II (2008) has more than 3 voices, customizable walks and a whole colour pallet to chose from. Also a wide selection of clothing, and the skins and face molding were pretty good too. Mind you, it's mostly a shooter type game, but it does indeed have sandbox elements.
I just wonder if EA counts on a lot of Sims players not having experience with a lot of games and therefore not holding them to a higher standard. Some of the stuff they get away with in TS3 would be unthinkable even in some of their other titles...but then again, I'll give EA the benefit of the doubt and maybe that is where their focus is. I also know this is the only game of it's type and EA has no competition. At least for city simulators there were a few, and since Sim City had so many issues, Tropico 4 (and soon Tropico 5) more than filled their shoes and was a lot more fun to play. For a life sim, um, you may have "Animal Crossing" and old MMO Second Life type games.
It's funny that you bring up Second Life. You're right; the Sims is sort of alone in its genre. Second Life was the closest I ever found. I actually played that pretty hard core for awhile. I don't play many games that don't offer a high degree of control. If the camera swings around too much or the colors and lighting is too bright, I get headaches. That's why I like the Sims' sandbox so much! The Sims and SL have pros and cons. At the end of the day, I came back to the Sims because I didn't like depending on other players online availability to advance my characters' stories. My Greek slave who was trying to undermine Rome by starting a slave rebellion? Waaaay less fun when no other rebels were online. Loved that guy, though. My steampunk time traveler? Kinda sucked when she got stuck in some other time period and the streets were empty. I think the lack of competition might be a big part of why EA makes some of the decisions in this franchise. Things don't have to be polished or perfect. Fans will buy it because there's no alternative.
That said, I still have high hopes for this franchise. So what if TS4 turns out to be a dud? I didn't like Super Mario Brothers 2, either. Super Mario Brothers 3? Loved it. Maybe if TS4 flops, it will just make TS5 that much better. Plenty of game franchises have taken missteps but lived to tell the tale.
This is my opinion and I am allowed to express it. I have not trod on anyone's toes.
I bet it has more to do with time and budget constraints. Nothing ever NEEDS to be in a game. It is a game after all. But the fact remains that a significant portion of the Sims fanbase are creative builders, so EA should seek to keep those fans happy too. Besides, I don't see how people who don't even currently play any of the games in the series are now suddenly going to be swayed by a "new emotions" system lol.
Perhaps in the same manner that they swayed people to purchase Sims2, or new simmers who purchased 3 for the first time...
I appreciate your comment and you could be right. Perhaps I should have said "Some of the things are not wanted by EA in the new game. EA seems bent on the idea that the new emotions thing is going to 'wow' a lot of new players.
So far, the Sims 3 base game has actually sold far less copies than The Sims 2 base game has sold, it wasn't even nearly as successful. Players who weren't happy refused to move on, and I think that cost EA.
Now it's not that I don't think The Sims 4 will be successful, I just don't think a new emotion-based system alone is strong enough to sway a non-Sims player to join to the series. They probably couldn't even care to tell the difference between that and the moodlets/traits system TS3 has. So imo their current fans are more important, and cutting back a feature like cast which is used a lot by people who mainly enjoy building and decorating is a really bad move.
I know there's this one, modthesims.info/d/490536
I have't tried it though. It seems complicated and I'm a little scared of possibly messing up my save games lol.