I downloaded TS4 yesterday on the game trial. I had been reading the reviews and these forums for a while which is a deciding factor on why I have not yet made a purchase. I am certainly glad no money has parted my hands for this game!
I have been a huge Sims fan since the first game and have bought almost all expansion packs available.
The whole game just feels like it's gone back a step and feels as thought it would have been a worthy successor to The Sims 2 rather than The Sims 3. There is no open world or customisation option like there was in the Sims 3 which just does not make sense at all. Surely as the fourth franchise we should be building on what's already there, and not removing stuff?
I am not a huge fan of the graphics as they seem very fairytale-ish with lots of vibrant colours and blurriness going on. Had I have played the game past the 3 hour mark, I would have had a blistering headache!
The open world aspect is a huge loss and the new neighbourhoods are tiny! There is no room to customise your world or add lots (that I could see of). The houses themselves are extremely pretty in my opinion - maybe some of the best houses we've seen in the history of The Sims. I have read the Open World was removed so the game could run better on low computers. I can see where the programmers are coming from (the need to include everybody), but the reality is people should only buy games that their computer can run. I feel this has also played a huge part in holding the game back. This may sound selfish, but the fact of the matter is I am a gamer and I find a way to make sure my computer can handle new games that comes out. Gaming is a expensive industry period.
I found Create a Sim quite frustrating and hard to use. I'm not sure how others feel on this, but I just feel its a glorified version of what was in the Sims 3 only in the Sims 4 you grab the part of the body you want to change and in the Sims 3 you had sliders. I don't see anything in TS4 create a Sim that you can't do in TS3 create a Sim except for choosing their walk (which are all awful).
I found the controls hard to use, and the multitasking feature confusing. For example, my Sim needed to pee really badly so I sent them to go for a pee. I noticed they also needed to shower so when they were half way through their pee, I told them to shower and my sim stopped peeing to go have a shower?!
I felt trapped and confined in this game which is something I've not felt before in a Sims game. Something just seems off with it.
I don't think I'll be buying The Sims 4 or any of its expansions unless I see some major improvement and feedback from the fans. It just does not seem worth it at this point in time. I am quite happy to play The Sims 3 in the meantime where I can actually get some enjoyment. I am, however, pleased to see that there are other simmers out there who are enjoying this instalment.
Sorry if any of the above sounded harsh, I truly didn't mean it to. I just wanted to voice my opinion.
I did the game time trial this weekend I love the game. My husband is buying me all content as a early Valentine's gift. I had played 3 on a friends computer for a couple of weeks prior( got into Sims 4 from a youtuber). I love the changes to the building special the roofing tool. I love to build and decorate. I am looking forward to watching the game grow and see what follows 4 and what is done totally new. My favorite thing in 3 was world adventures so I am looking forward to playing with Outdoor Retreat.
Was trying to find the right place to ask this question but I just can't seem to find it so I hope I'm not derailing this thread if I am I apologize but does anyone know if there are any Sims 4 demos for Macs? Course I just saw the specs for Macs and it said for input you would have to have a mouse and I'm thinking uummmm no will not go back to a clumsy mouse to move about in my world no and no. Anyone have any info on this?
They listened and gave us toddlers! Thanks Devs your work is appreciated.
Was trying to find the right place to ask this question but I just can't seem to find it so I hope I'm not derailing this thread if I am I apologize but does anyone know if there are any Sims 4 demos for Macs? Course I just saw the specs for Macs and it said for input you would have to have a mouse and I'm thinking uummmm no will not go back to a clumsy mouse to move about in my world no and no. Anyone have any info on this?
I saw @SimGuruBChick answer this somewhere but sorry I can't remember where. But no, no demo for Mac
I just finished my game time experience and I'm delighted with Sims 4.
I'm a Sims series enthusiast but I must say I was affected by all the criticism when the game first launched. Allowing players to try the game for themselves was a great opportunity. Thank you for that!
I loved the new emotions system - that's the way to go! It made Sims so more realistic and complex. I always missed that on the previous games. Also loved the multitasking, how all the different actions/interactions coordinated so seamlessly. How Sims now spontaneously approach one another and start group interacting. All these changes gave a new life to the game! I got so often frustrated playing Sims 3, just trying for a family meal where everyone sits together was a challenge.
Still, I missed some of the features we had on Sims 3. Mainly the create a style feature, that I used all the time. Only if a simple color wheel could be included to style CAS and build mode objects... And, secondly, the open world experience. I sure missed that! I hate loading screens, and though the travel loading screens don't take too long, I soon noticed I was keeping my Sims mostly at home to avoid them. I do understand that Sims 3 open world was very prone to bugs and to a game story progression that was hard to manage and introduced many problems. Still, it gave so much freedom to the gameplay. That's a substantial loss...
Overall, the positive aspects of the game exceed the negative ones, in my opinion. I had a great time playing!
Was trying to find the right place to ask this question but I just can't seem to find it so I hope I'm not derailing this thread if I am I apologize but does anyone know if there are any Sims 4 demos for Macs? Course I just saw the specs for Macs and it said for input you would have to have a mouse and I'm thinking uummmm no will not go back to a clumsy mouse to move about in my world no and no. Anyone have any info on this?
Basically, you'll need either to have your Mac Bootcamped or use Parallels to play either the demo or have played the game free for 48 hours.
Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'til Morning.
Was trying to find the right place to ask this question but I just can't seem to find it so I hope I'm not derailing this thread if I am I apologize but does anyone know if there are any Sims 4 demos for Macs? Course I just saw the specs for Macs and it said for input you would have to have a mouse and I'm thinking uummmm no will not go back to a clumsy mouse to move about in my world no and no. Anyone have any info on this?
Basically, you'll need either to have your Mac Bootcamped or use Parallels to play either the demo or have played the game free for 48 hours.
You probably just has to wait some days or weeks because then most likely there will be game time for the Mac version too.
@Jenzup I found it-copied from @SimGuruBChick wall-no editing don't want there to be any misunderstandings-it's better to hear from the official source hope you don't mind @SimGuruBChick thought it was important to share so we don't have speculation and upset!
Hi SimGuruBchick i just wanted ask if your allowed to answer will there be a Cas Demo (like the pc version) for mac users before the games comes out on the 17th? and also what time will the game be available to Uk simmers on the 17th!! thank you
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February 2 Comment
SimGuruBChick
Hi Daniel, I can confirm that there will not be a CAS demo for Mac. And check out the Mac post in the Latest News section of the Forums. We have listed availability times on there.
February 2
Hi, is the game not available on Game Time anymore? I cant find it.
I believe that yesterday was the last day.
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
I downloaded the game for the 48 hour trial just because I wanted to play it, but with the bad reviews it received I wasn't willing to pay for it. After playing the game I can kinda see why the reviews were not so good. The game seems very basic, especially compared to how big a world Sims 3 was based in. The interface is quite confusing also, and the lessons are very ambiguous so they didn't really help. Had to get most of my information from the forums. The aspirations system is good, but the number of points you receive for completing them is very poor. As an example I got ten points from writing a song, which took approx 20 hours sims time to write. Considering the cheapest reward I wanted was for two thousand points it means a lot of grinding. Relationships and need bars seem to degrade really really quickly as well. Overall don't think it's a bad game but not nearly worth sixty pounds. Will prob buy it but only at a much cheaper price.
> @KarinL said: > Yes, the up-and-down emotions are definitely getting to me. My Sim was 'focused', and then three seconds of chess made her 'tense' and she got up to find somebody to vent to, but by the time she started venting within a second or two she was 'happy' because of the social interaction... It drives me crazy. > Also, the camera is driving me nuts. Is there a way to actually rotate without using the mouse? I don't know whether it's my mouse or my wrist, but it takes me an hour or so (game time, not real time) to rotate 180 degrees...
Yea camera's not too good, I've ended up using the keyboard controls but they move so slowly. :(
Sooooo, I played 12 hours during the 48 hours trial period.
Starting up:
Wasn't particularly impressed by CAS. I tried a bit of the push-and-pull and either couldn't grab on or couldn't seem to achieve the desired result. Dressing the Sims was good from a 'number of accessories' standpoint but suffered greatly from lack of CASt. I found a shirt I liked with a cute picture on it, and there were no acceptable pants to coordinate with it. Picking the pants I liked best for style and color I went back to the shirt (love that you can click on the shirt and have it come up selected in the list!) and found a color that went with the new pants - but it had a different picture than the original. I wanted the unicorn print, not the monster truck. So, a few details improved over Sims 2, but the overall less impressive then Sims 3 due to lack of CASt and slider flexibility.
Build mode was fabulous. I want to grab this and CASt and merge them with my Sims 2 game, seriously. Reshaping rooms, drop-in and move around rooms, and the roofing improvement! Roofs have always given me a lot of problems, but this was really wonderful. Unfortunately it fell down in the wall covering and floor covering department, again due to lack of CASt. Two carpet patterns, and no good colors? I wanted a good rich blue - not available. Even a moderate blue was missing, just a very pale and a greyish blue that were practically indistinguishable on the floor. Similarly no strong greens, and those are colors I use a lot. As with the clothing I'd often pick a wall I like and be unable to find a good coordinating floor or vice versa. Also the combo colors often flipped at the wrong time. A white floor with red accents, say and I'd look for blue accents only to find that the blue version was blue (which didn't go with the wall) with white accents. But I loved that the edged sidings were able to detect wall corners and put the vertical edges automatically on the corners - no more juggling between left-side edge, right-side edge and edgeless. So minus some points for lack of flexibility but overall build mode is a huge improvement and I like it a lot.
The tutorials were bizarre. Popping up all over the screen - not contained to a corner where they wouldn't interfere - and apparently at random. I got instructions on how to use the Buy mode tools about the 8th time I went in, and Build mode directions on the 2nd and then about 5th uses. Again at apparently random points in game play I'd have them popping up - a Sim-week in, with both Sims not only in jobs but having gotten a promotion - it decided to interrupt my play to tell me I needed to get them jobs and how, and how to read the jobs tab. Sims 2 and 3 were a lot more accurate in targeting the first time you encountered a new facet of play and largely kept to one side of the screen.
When time to place the family in the world there was a severe lack of potential new family housing. And the neighborhood maps are hideous. The UI is not only hard to read due to small size and white-on-white icons, but scattered illogically around the screen, with frequently used icons set in odd places. (The main culprit for me being the up/down/ level button. Why is that as far as possible from the active sim things? Also the back button in build/buy mode. I thought there wasn't one the first several times I went in.)
Playing the game:
I stated with the small, desertish home (furnished), and a young adult couple. He got a job as an astronaut, and she became a painter. Painting seems to go a lot faster than in previous games, and I like that you can choose different styles. The sheer number of tasks associated with the jobs are ridiculous though. I liked the minimal skill and friend requirements of prior version, you could acquire the friends with any member of the family and the skills in any manner the game allowed. Achievements add still more tasks, and I had to change Jason's when it got to where he had to own a rocket ship, since there was no room on the lot for such a thing. I realize why a rocket would need to be huge, but why is the only telescope also too big for the property? Where's the cheap version? And the microscope also fit nowhere in the house. (I didn't buy any of them.)
Number of days worked dropped faster in this game than previous ones and shortly they were both working 4 days a week. This allowed me to start a family - what's with the cheer about trying for a baby? That seems utterly juvenile. But she got pregnant and continued to work and go places until the needs drop dictated otherwise which is nice. The family leave was particularly nice. She took one day off to have the baby, dad took a day off the next day, she took off the third and dad was off without taking leave until the baby aged up. Didn't think much of the fact that the adults never noticed the baby unless I specifically directed them over; baby stages aren't usually very interesting but at least the family used to care about the infant!
Now that I had a child I needed more room, but couldn't find a house anywhere near my household funds. So, I put on a partial second floor and played in Build mode some more. I also discovered the Search bar in the Buy catalog - Yay! We've needed one of these for years. But I'm back to the problem of furniture that doesn't match, finding a set that matches but no wallpaper or flooring to coordinate with it - can we at least get back the ability to change the bedsheets/fabric separately from the bedstead/chairframe? I ended up with orange sheets and blue furniture (go Gators!) and a sort of pale orangey-beige wall. The fact that the houses are so shadowy despite windows and light doesn't help match the colors, and often the color in the tiny little swatch is not a good match for the color on the item. But I did like that the change color tool is now free, so I can pop a table in and see the actual colors by clicking through the swatches to see if anything will go.
I like that I don't need to hunt for homework - one bad thing about Sims 2 - and I like the extra credit option. Homework seems to go faster than before, which is very nice. Other time management needs work. Showers take way, too long and don't even mention meals. I don't know why there are all the long do nothing pauses. I clicked on Sims 2 last night and was watching a trio of teens sharing a meal, lively chatter and hand gestures, though bubbles to show what they're talking about and they still finished in about an hour, while my Sims 4 family, solo or en masse took a minimum of two (except for hotdogs. Julie managed to eat a hotdog in only an hour.) The children seem to have severely restricted game options, what happened to Tag, Mary Mack, Red Hands, Punch U, cops and robbers etc. Timle Torneau? (I didn't have room for a pool, but I'm guessing that hasn't returned based on the apparent attitudes of the people in charge of what gets added.) But the child stage as a whole seams good, I liked the 'learn to type' and other child-specific options on general-purpose items.
Gardening was nice, except for the randomness of the planting, which was annoying. Sims 2 you clicked on a plot of land and the plant went in the center. Sims 3 you could either select a plant and then click a spot, or put a plant on the spot and click 'plant' and the plant ended up right where the spot was. Here I put my plants in a couple of neat lines and ended up with a totally random garden, because some were planted where they were, some were apparently planted where they were bu moved(?) when the Sims stood up, some the Sim kneeled on top of the plant and planted it in the space where their hands happened to be (some of these popped back to the intended spot when the Sims stood up, others stayed outside of the marked garden area. I liked the evolving and grafting, but the random planting messes up any attempt to have an organized garden. If I wanted my Sims to have a sloppy garden I'd have planted it that way.
Dig sites and frogs . . I like the frogs and breeding, but the way they're implemented seems to be straight out of Sims Medieval and the collectibles seem to be getting carried away. I like collection games but this seems to be moving way to far towards task and collect than 'playing with life'. The people simulator has become a checklist game and in a spinoff like Medieval I have no problem with it, but this is supposed to be a main series game.
My rotational style play is still largely missing. My family play is crimped because babies are stuck in cribs and toddlers were excised. Children are still good; my trial didn't last long enough to have a teen. Build mode is wonderful, but CAS is crimped by lack of CASt. I can do lots of collecting or following checklists, or I can try to ignore that checklists turn up everywhere and try to play as I want. The ability to move around the tiny neighborhood is nice, but the entire neighborhood section should be open by now, even if the world as a whole needs to be sectioned. The UI and neighborhood screens are horrid, and while I can ignore the art style I don't find it appealing.
I didn't like the Sims 3 lack of rotational play or its art style much either; I ignored it until horses were added. At that point I fell completely in love with CASt and the open world, although the latter certainly was not without issue. If the Sims 4 finds something to add (that's apparently not 'too hard' or 'too expensive'), I may buy the game and expansions at reduced cost. It certainly is not worth $60-70 to me, but I'll continue to watch it. I'd not be averse to playing with the Tryon family again.
....so of course now that the free trial is over, they announce the Genealogy download. I still can't believe this wasn't included in the base game. It's been there since TS2!
Hello, I'm new to this particular forum and to The Sims 4 but not The Sims in general. I've been playing The Sims since 2002. I love Sims 1 and 2 but, like Thrippa who posted above, didn't get into Sims 3 much until I discovered the horses. I was interested in Sims 4 when I saw that the Sims actually look attractive and it's possible to rotate between houses like in Sims 2. I was even more interested when I saw that they were adding in pools and ghosts. However, I held off on buying Sims 4 primarily because I wasn't sure if it would run on my 3.5 year old computer. So Game Time was a great way for me to see how well it would run without having to actually buy the game first. I found that Sims 4 runs very well on my PC and the initial load time especially is very short. I enjoyed the Game Time enough to purchase The Sims 4, although I did search around until I found it on sale for $40 at Target.
Likes:
- The game runs smoothly with no lag so far (although, I've only played one small household at this point). -The emotions are fun and something different from previous versions of The Sims. -The multitasking is great - I just have to remember to take advantage of it! -I like the looks of the Sims. -I love being able to pick up and move entire rooms in build mode. -I thought I wouldn't like the missing toddlers, but actually I don't mind it that much - it makes things simpler and it's easier on my Sim parents to just skip to childhood. Also, I still play Sims 1 occasionally and the Sims 4 babies felt like kind of a cool throwback to Sims 1. However, I can see why others dislike this so much. -I notice fun little details that give the game its own charm, just like the previous 3 Sims games. -Maybe I wasn't as into Sims 3 Create a Style as others, but I don't really miss it. If leaving it out means the game runs better, I am happy to have it gone. - I've only played one household so far, but I think it's possible to play households in rotation without the game screwing up my other households while I'm away. Rotating between households is my Sims 2 play style that I love because I can play out multiple situations at once and have all my Sims interact with each other.
Dislikes:
-It feels like there's not enough time in the day to have my Sims complete all the work I want them to do to progress and also keep their needs up and maybe also hang out and have some fun. Part of this is because I'm a perfectionist who wants high achieving Sims. But I think it also just takes forever to do things - for example, the Sims often stop and stare into space in the middle of meals, making it take much longer. Multitasking does help. Also, I may lengthen the lifespan just so I can let my Sims have time for some fun instead of just grinding work and school requirements all the time. -Create a Sim and also the layout of the tools and menus in the game have been confusing for me to figure out, but I think it will be fine once I get used to it. -Not being able to add lots to the neighborhood. The white neighborhood view is not very attractive and I can't customize it. Probably nothing can match the greatness of Sims 2 where I build my own neighborhoods from scratch.
Thanks for the Game Time, it was a great idea on EA's part to help me decide to pony up and buy the game ;). I think this game has lots of potential and am looking forward to seeing how it will be with expansions (if my computer can handle them!).
I finished my 48 hours with about 24 hours of playing time........ That might say it all right there LOL! And then, the message that my time was up came and I was offered the download for 40 dollars. Brilliant! you got me!
The sims actions and reaction to the rest of their world, reminds me why I started playing sims in the first place! I'm pretty stoked for more more more !!!!
Like many others, I downloaded this game with very low expectations (from the bad reviews/lack of features). However I was surprised and did play longer than I expected! Will I buy it? No...
The Good- all the new stuff (emotions, multitasking) etc. + Despite hating the lack of open world, the loading screens did not take too long (usually a few seconds!). + The new graphics/look for the Sims were also cool. + Loved the new interactions such as kiss hands!
The Bad- all the stuff missing! I realise it's a completely new game, but come on- no cars/transport?! - I hated that the household felt separate from the world (I've gotten used to the Sims 3 open world) and the fact that members were not independent- one couldn't pop to a friends house whilst another was at a bar. I miss micro-managing my household, it just made things fun. - CAS was fiddly and often didn't react as well as I wanted- bring back the sliders! - The object/environment graphics were disappointing, as was the missing toddler life stage and very lacking baby stage (why couldn't they have enhanced the baby stage with objects, fun interactions/activities etc.?). Would have also put down no family tree, but that's coming in a much anticipated update so well done Maxis! - Sometimes those emotions got veeerrry annoying, as others have posted. And relationship bars would decay like crazy! - I felt an overall 'emptiness' about this game, I cant put my finger on it but something (other than all those loved features) was missing.
Thank you EA, for giving us a chance to try the game for ourselves. Sadly, I think I'll be sticking with the Sims 3... :(
I didn't get play for a little bit so in the middle of creating a sim I was cut off,oh well it was fun while it lasted and hopefully we'll get another free chance at it like they said later and maybe even get to try out one of the good expansions which would be cool as well and would help people to decide better.
Now that a family tree has been implemented, does that mean the population cap and culling have been fixed?
No. The family tree shows relationships; it's not connected to townie culling, except insofar as the game has never (since an early bug fix) culled relatives who happen to be townies. The 180 town cap is the same as before, and there was no change to culling in this patch.
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
Ok, I started playing the game time yesterday (had to write university exams before so I had no time for playing earlyer) and I have to say that the game isn't that bad as I always have been told. I like the new family tree (that you can see what job they had) and I like the animations. I even like the babies, because other kids can interact with them, too (I can't remember my kids interacting with babies in TS2 and TS3). As I hated my adults to always carry the babies around in the house, I don't mind TS4 babies always having to stay in the crib. And therer are so many interactions between a baby and it's parents...
I also like the Sims always talking to each other. They follow the other Sims into other rooms to continue talking. The animations are pretty nice. I had to laugh so loud when my sim man - who actually looks like my boyfriend - came home from work and just fell onto the bed - what my real life boyfriend also often does And there are so many Sims walking around my house, the world feels very lively. And it runs SO good on my laptop.
I just miss the toddlers. And the open world. I would appreciate it if the sub-neighborhoods could be opened. Also more object/clothing recolors (I can live without CAS, but more recolors would be nice). And the neighborhoods should be bigger... but that should be possible... the TS1 neighborhoods were small, too, until the pets EP arrived and a bigger neighbourhood was annexed. And I don't like the camera... it is soooo slow, don't ask me why...
But the game really has potential. Unfortunately I don't have the money to buy it this time, but I think I will do this when it's on sale the next time. So thanks for the game time. I was wondering how the game is the whole time and now I know what I am expecting, as soon as I have the money to get it. EA should have done this earlier... if people had the opportunity to first play and then buy it, disappointed gamers wouldn't have been that angry and wouldn't have told the game that bad... So my suggestion to EA: give at least 1 day game time every day a EP get's released and let people try it out. (at least a few weeks after its release). It would help unsure people a lot. So long I will continue playing TS3 on my desktop and look forward to get TS4 for the laptop. I won't stop playing TS3 (because of open world and all the stuff in it) but TS4 will be a nice additional game.
I am amazed with TS4. i've been a fan since TS2 and i always loved playing The Sims. One thing that i miss is the toddlers and the open world. i was really dissapointed when i saw that TS4 would not have an open world, but i'm praying!
Comments
I have been a huge Sims fan since the first game and have bought almost all expansion packs available.
The whole game just feels like it's gone back a step and feels as thought it would have been a worthy successor to The Sims 2 rather than The Sims 3. There is no open world or customisation option like there was in the Sims 3 which just does not make sense at all. Surely as the fourth franchise we should be building on what's already there, and not removing stuff?
I am not a huge fan of the graphics as they seem very fairytale-ish with lots of vibrant colours and blurriness going on. Had I have played the game past the 3 hour mark, I would have had a blistering headache!
The open world aspect is a huge loss and the new neighbourhoods are tiny! There is no room to customise your world or add lots (that I could see of). The houses themselves are extremely pretty in my opinion - maybe some of the best houses we've seen in the history of The Sims. I have read the Open World was removed so the game could run better on low computers. I can see where the programmers are coming from (the need to include everybody), but the reality is people should only buy games that their computer can run. I feel this has also played a huge part in holding the game back. This may sound selfish, but the fact of the matter is I am a gamer and I find a way to make sure my computer can handle new games that comes out. Gaming is a expensive industry period.
I found Create a Sim quite frustrating and hard to use. I'm not sure how others feel on this, but I just feel its a glorified version of what was in the Sims 3 only in the Sims 4 you grab the part of the body you want to change and in the Sims 3 you had sliders. I don't see anything in TS4 create a Sim that you can't do in TS3 create a Sim except for choosing their walk (which are all awful).
I found the controls hard to use, and the multitasking feature confusing. For example, my Sim needed to pee really badly so I sent them to go for a pee. I noticed they also needed to shower so when they were half way through their pee, I told them to shower and my sim stopped peeing to go have a shower?!
I felt trapped and confined in this game which is something I've not felt before in a Sims game. Something just seems off with it.
I don't think I'll be buying The Sims 4 or any of its expansions unless I see some major improvement and feedback from the fans. It just does not seem worth it at this point in time. I am quite happy to play The Sims 3 in the meantime where I can actually get some enjoyment. I am, however, pleased to see that there are other simmers out there who are enjoying this instalment.
Sorry if any of the above sounded harsh, I truly didn't mean it to. I just wanted to voice my opinion.
Does he hate you that much?
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Marcus Aurelius
I saw @SimGuruBChick answer this somewhere but sorry I can't remember where. But no, no demo for Mac
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
I'm a Sims series enthusiast but I must say I was affected by all the criticism when the game first launched. Allowing players to try the game for themselves was a great opportunity. Thank you for that!
I loved the new emotions system - that's the way to go! It made Sims so more realistic and complex. I always missed that on the previous games. Also loved the multitasking, how all the different actions/interactions coordinated so seamlessly. How Sims now spontaneously approach one another and start group interacting. All these changes gave a new life to the game! I got so often frustrated playing Sims 3, just trying for a family meal where everyone sits together was a challenge.
Still, I missed some of the features we had on Sims 3. Mainly the create a style feature, that I used all the time. Only if a simple color wheel could be included to style CAS and build mode objects... And, secondly, the open world experience. I sure missed that! I hate loading screens, and though the travel loading screens don't take too long, I soon noticed I was keeping my Sims mostly at home to avoid them. I do understand that Sims 3 open world was very prone to bugs and to a game story progression that was hard to manage and introduced many problems. Still, it gave so much freedom to the gameplay. That's a substantial loss...
Overall, the positive aspects of the game exceed the negative ones, in my opinion. I had a great time playing!
Basically, you'll need either to have your Mac Bootcamped or use Parallels to play either the demo or have played the game free for 48 hours.
Hi SimGuruBchick i just wanted ask if your allowed to answer will there be a Cas Demo (like the pc version) for mac users before the games comes out on the 17th? and also what time will the game be available to Uk simmers on the 17th!! thank you
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February 2 Comment
SimGuruBChick
Hi Daniel, I can confirm that there will not be a CAS demo for Mac. And check out the Mac post in the Latest News section of the Forums. We have listed availability times on there.
February 2
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
I believe that yesterday was the last day.
The game seems very basic, especially compared to how big a world Sims 3 was based in. The interface is quite confusing also, and the lessons are very ambiguous so they didn't really help. Had to get most of my information from the forums. The aspirations system is good, but the number of points you receive for completing them is very poor. As an example I got ten points from writing a song, which took approx 20 hours sims time to write. Considering the cheapest reward I wanted was for two thousand points it means a lot of grinding. Relationships and need bars seem to degrade really really quickly as well.
Overall don't think it's a bad game but not nearly worth sixty pounds. Will prob buy it but only at a much cheaper price.
> Yes, the up-and-down emotions are definitely getting to me. My Sim was 'focused', and then three seconds of chess made her 'tense' and she got up to find somebody to vent to, but by the time she started venting within a second or two she was 'happy' because of the social interaction... It drives me crazy.
> Also, the camera is driving me nuts. Is there a way to actually rotate without using the mouse? I don't know whether it's my mouse or my wrist, but it takes me an hour or so (game time, not real time) to rotate 180 degrees...
Yea camera's not too good, I've ended up using the keyboard controls but they move so slowly. :(
Starting up:
Wasn't particularly impressed by CAS. I tried a bit of the push-and-pull and either couldn't grab on or couldn't seem to achieve the desired result. Dressing the Sims was good from a 'number of accessories' standpoint but suffered greatly from lack of CASt. I found a shirt I liked with a cute picture on it, and there were no acceptable pants to coordinate with it. Picking the pants I liked best for style and color I went back to the shirt (love that you can click on the shirt and have it come up selected in the list!) and found a color that went with the new pants - but it had a different picture than the original. I wanted the unicorn print, not the monster truck. So, a few details improved over Sims 2, but the overall less impressive then Sims 3 due to lack of CASt and slider flexibility.
Build mode was fabulous. I want to grab this and CASt and merge them with my Sims 2 game, seriously. Reshaping rooms, drop-in and move around rooms, and the roofing improvement! Roofs have always given me a lot of problems, but this was really wonderful. Unfortunately it fell down in the wall covering and floor covering department, again due to lack of CASt. Two carpet patterns, and no good colors? I wanted a good rich blue - not available. Even a moderate blue was missing, just a very pale and a greyish blue that were practically indistinguishable on the floor. Similarly no strong greens, and those are colors I use a lot. As with the clothing I'd often pick a wall I like and be unable to find a good coordinating floor or vice versa. Also the combo colors often flipped at the wrong time. A white floor with red accents, say and I'd look for blue accents only to find that the blue version was blue (which didn't go with the wall) with white accents. But I loved that the edged sidings were able to detect wall corners and put the vertical edges automatically on the corners - no more juggling between left-side edge, right-side edge and edgeless. So minus some points for lack of flexibility but overall build mode is a huge improvement and I like it a lot.
The tutorials were bizarre. Popping up all over the screen - not contained to a corner where they wouldn't interfere - and apparently at random. I got instructions on how to use the Buy mode tools about the 8th time I went in, and Build mode directions on the 2nd and then about 5th uses. Again at apparently random points in game play I'd have them popping up - a Sim-week in, with both Sims not only in jobs but having gotten a promotion - it decided to interrupt my play to tell me I needed to get them jobs and how, and how to read the jobs tab. Sims 2 and 3 were a lot more accurate in targeting the first time you encountered a new facet of play and largely kept to one side of the screen.
When time to place the family in the world there was a severe lack of potential new family housing. And the neighborhood maps are hideous. The UI is not only hard to read due to small size and white-on-white icons, but scattered illogically around the screen, with frequently used icons set in odd places. (The main culprit for me being the up/down/ level button. Why is that as far as possible from the active sim things? Also the back button in build/buy mode. I thought there wasn't one the first several times I went in.)
Playing the game:
I stated with the small, desertish home (furnished), and a young adult couple. He got a job as an astronaut, and she became a painter. Painting seems to go a lot faster than in previous games, and I like that you can choose different styles. The sheer number of tasks associated with the jobs are ridiculous though. I liked the minimal skill and friend requirements of prior version, you could acquire the friends with any member of the family and the skills in any manner the game allowed. Achievements add still more tasks, and I had to change Jason's when it got to where he had to own a rocket ship, since there was no room on the lot for such a thing. I realize why a rocket would need to be huge, but why is the only telescope also too big for the property? Where's the cheap version? And the microscope also fit nowhere in the house. (I didn't buy any of them.)
Number of days worked dropped faster in this game than previous ones and shortly they were both working 4 days a week. This allowed me to start a family - what's with the cheer about trying for a baby? That seems utterly juvenile. But she got pregnant and continued to work and go places until the needs drop dictated otherwise which is nice. The family leave was particularly nice. She took one day off to have the baby, dad took a day off the next day, she took off the third and dad was off without taking leave until the baby aged up. Didn't think much of the fact that the adults never noticed the baby unless I specifically directed them over; baby stages aren't usually very interesting but at least the family used to care about the infant!
Now that I had a child I needed more room, but couldn't find a house anywhere near my household funds. So, I put on a partial second floor and played in Build mode some more. I also discovered the Search bar in the Buy catalog - Yay! We've needed one of these for years. But I'm back to the problem of furniture that doesn't match, finding a set that matches but no wallpaper or flooring to coordinate with it - can we at least get back the ability to change the bedsheets/fabric separately from the bedstead/chairframe? I ended up with orange sheets and blue furniture (go Gators!) and a sort of pale orangey-beige wall. The fact that the houses are so shadowy despite windows and light doesn't help match the colors, and often the color in the tiny little swatch is not a good match for the color on the item. But I did like that the change color tool is now free, so I can pop a table in and see the actual colors by clicking through the swatches to see if anything will go.
I like that I don't need to hunt for homework - one bad thing about Sims 2 - and I like the extra credit option. Homework seems to go faster than before, which is very nice. Other time management needs work. Showers take way, too long and don't even mention meals. I don't know why there are all the long do nothing pauses. I clicked on Sims 2 last night and was watching a trio of teens sharing a meal, lively chatter and hand gestures, though bubbles to show what they're talking about and they still finished in about an hour, while my Sims 4 family, solo or en masse took a minimum of two (except for hotdogs. Julie managed to eat a hotdog in only an hour.) The children seem to have severely restricted game options, what happened to Tag, Mary Mack, Red Hands, Punch U, cops and robbers etc. Timle Torneau? (I didn't have room for a pool, but I'm guessing that hasn't returned based on the apparent attitudes of the people in charge of what gets added.) But the child stage as a whole seams good, I liked the 'learn to type' and other child-specific options on general-purpose items.
Gardening was nice, except for the randomness of the planting, which was annoying. Sims 2 you clicked on a plot of land and the plant went in the center. Sims 3 you could either select a plant and then click a spot, or put a plant on the spot and click 'plant' and the plant ended up right where the spot was. Here I put my plants in a couple of neat lines and ended up with a totally random garden, because some were planted where they were, some were apparently planted where they were bu moved(?) when the Sims stood up, some the Sim kneeled on top of the plant and planted it in the space where their hands happened to be (some of these popped back to the intended spot when the Sims stood up, others stayed outside of the marked garden area. I liked the evolving and grafting, but the random planting messes up any attempt to have an organized garden. If I wanted my Sims to have a sloppy garden I'd have planted it that way.
Dig sites and frogs . . I like the frogs and breeding, but the way they're implemented seems to be straight out of Sims Medieval and the collectibles seem to be getting carried away. I like collection games but this seems to be moving way to far towards task and collect than 'playing with life'. The people simulator has become a checklist game and in a spinoff like Medieval I have no problem with it, but this is supposed to be a main series game.
My rotational style play is still largely missing. My family play is crimped because babies are stuck in cribs and toddlers were excised. Children are still good; my trial didn't last long enough to have a teen. Build mode is wonderful, but CAS is crimped by lack of CASt. I can do lots of collecting or following checklists, or I can try to ignore that checklists turn up everywhere and try to play as I want. The ability to move around the tiny neighborhood is nice, but the entire neighborhood section should be open by now, even if the world as a whole needs to be sectioned. The UI and neighborhood screens are horrid, and while I can ignore the art style I don't find it appealing.
I didn't like the Sims 3 lack of rotational play or its art style much either; I ignored it until horses were added. At that point I fell completely in love with CASt and the open world, although the latter certainly was not without issue. If the Sims 4 finds something to add (that's apparently not 'too hard' or 'too expensive'), I may buy the game and expansions at reduced cost. It certainly is not worth $60-70 to me, but I'll continue to watch it. I'd not be averse to playing with the Tryon family again.
Likes:
- The game runs smoothly with no lag so far (although, I've only played one small household at this point).
-The emotions are fun and something different from previous versions of The Sims.
-The multitasking is great - I just have to remember to take advantage of it!
-I like the looks of the Sims.
-I love being able to pick up and move entire rooms in build mode.
-I thought I wouldn't like the missing toddlers, but actually I don't mind it that much - it makes things simpler and it's easier on my Sim parents to just skip to childhood. Also, I still play Sims 1 occasionally and the Sims 4 babies felt like kind of a cool throwback to Sims 1. However, I can see why others dislike this so much.
-I notice fun little details that give the game its own charm, just like the previous 3 Sims games.
-Maybe I wasn't as into Sims 3 Create a Style as others, but I don't really miss it. If leaving it out means the game runs better, I am happy to have it gone.
- I've only played one household so far, but I think it's possible to play households in rotation without the game screwing up my other households while I'm away. Rotating between households is my Sims 2 play style that I love because I can play out multiple situations at once and have all my Sims interact with each other.
Dislikes:
-It feels like there's not enough time in the day to have my Sims complete all the work I want them to do to progress and also keep their needs up and maybe also hang out and have some fun. Part of this is because I'm a perfectionist who wants high achieving Sims. But I think it also just takes forever to do things - for example, the Sims often stop and stare into space in the middle of meals, making it take much longer. Multitasking does help. Also, I may lengthen the lifespan just so I can let my Sims have time for some fun instead of just grinding work and school requirements all the time.
-Create a Sim and also the layout of the tools and menus in the game have been confusing for me to figure out, but I think it will be fine once I get used to it.
-Not being able to add lots to the neighborhood. The white neighborhood view is not very attractive and I can't customize it. Probably nothing can match the greatness of Sims 2 where I build my own neighborhoods from scratch.
Thanks for the Game Time, it was a great idea on EA's part to help me decide to pony up and buy the game ;). I think this game has lots of potential and am looking forward to seeing how it will be with expansions (if my computer can handle them!).
The sims actions and reaction to the rest of their world, reminds me why I started playing sims in the first place! I'm pretty stoked for more more more !!!!
The Good- all the new stuff (emotions, multitasking) etc.
+ Despite hating the lack of open world, the loading screens did not take too long (usually a few seconds!).
+ The new graphics/look for the Sims were also cool.
+ Loved the new interactions such as kiss hands!
The Bad- all the stuff missing! I realise it's a completely new game, but come on- no cars/transport?!
- I hated that the household felt separate from the world (I've gotten used to the Sims 3 open world) and the fact that members were not independent- one couldn't pop to a friends house whilst another was at a bar. I miss micro-managing my household, it just made things fun.
- CAS was fiddly and often didn't react as well as I wanted- bring back the sliders!
- The object/environment graphics were disappointing, as was the missing toddler life stage and very lacking baby stage (why couldn't they have enhanced the baby stage with objects, fun interactions/activities etc.?). Would have also put down no family tree, but that's coming in a much anticipated update so well done Maxis!
- Sometimes those emotions got veeerrry annoying, as others have posted. And relationship bars would decay like crazy!
- I felt an overall 'emptiness' about this game, I cant put my finger on it but something (other than all those loved features) was missing.
Thank you EA, for giving us a chance to try the game for ourselves. Sadly, I think I'll be sticking with the Sims 3... :(
No. The family tree shows relationships; it's not connected to townie culling, except insofar as the game has never (since an early bug fix) culled relatives who happen to be townies. The 180 town cap is the same as before, and there was no change to culling in this patch.
I also like the Sims always talking to each other. They follow the other Sims into other rooms to continue talking. The animations are pretty nice. I had to laugh so loud when my sim man - who actually looks like my boyfriend - came home from work and just fell onto the bed - what my real life boyfriend also often does
I just miss the toddlers. And the open world. I would appreciate it if the sub-neighborhoods could be opened. Also more object/clothing recolors (I can live without CAS, but more recolors would be nice). And the neighborhoods should be bigger... but that should be possible... the TS1 neighborhoods were small, too, until the pets EP arrived and a bigger neighbourhood was annexed. And I don't like the camera... it is soooo slow, don't ask me why...
But the game really has potential. Unfortunately I don't have the money to buy it this time, but I think I will do this when it's on sale the next time. So thanks for the game time. I was wondering how the game is the whole time and now I know what I am expecting, as soon as I have the money to get it. EA should have done this earlier... if people had the opportunity to first play and then buy it, disappointed gamers wouldn't have been that angry and wouldn't have told the game that bad... So my suggestion to EA: give at least 1 day game time every day a EP get's released and let people try it out. (at least a few weeks after its release). It would help unsure people a lot. So long I will continue playing TS3 on my desktop and look forward to get TS4 for the laptop. I won't stop playing TS3 (because of open world and all the stuff in it) but TS4 will be a nice additional game.