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Novel thought: Restrict alien abduction to certain objects/activites
MsPhy
Posts: 5,055 Member
Sims 2 had it right. If you didn't want alien abduction, don't use the expensive telescope. If you do want it, use it. If you get abducted, you come back pregnant (assuming you are a male adult who is not too close to elderhood). I loved my alien babies in TS2, but I only let my knowledge Sims get abducted. Abduction was too traumatic for the other Sims.
As it stands now in GTW, there is no way to avoid random abduction (without the satellite dish), and there is no way to avoid or ensure pregnancy once an abduction DOES happen. The introduction of female impregnation of males through woo-hoo was also a novel and fun concept; I have no clue why that was removed, as it could be so easily avoided!
The "solution" solved nothing. It left the anti-abduction/impregnation crowd still in danger of abduction/impregnation, and it left the pro-abduction/impregnation crowd standing around waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting ... for something that has been tuned way too low to please them and may NEVER happen because there are no specific actions that can trigger it.
As it stands now in GTW, there is no way to avoid random abduction (without the satellite dish), and there is no way to avoid or ensure pregnancy once an abduction DOES happen. The introduction of female impregnation of males through woo-hoo was also a novel and fun concept; I have no clue why that was removed, as it could be so easily avoided!
The "solution" solved nothing. It left the anti-abduction/impregnation crowd still in danger of abduction/impregnation, and it left the pro-abduction/impregnation crowd standing around waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting ... for something that has been tuned way too low to please them and may NEVER happen because there are no specific actions that can trigger it.
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I really wish they would start attempting to put a little more detail and effort into the features they add.
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?!
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?!
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Percentage spawns come from rpg features of which you have a chance for this type of object, monster, etc to spawn onto the map. Collections remind me of this. However equally this works in other scenarios as well when you think about ratios to how often an alien could spawn and abduct your sim. Left with no controller for the player still.
However if it's designed into the actual game instead of a ui the player has a deeper depth of control. I am not a fan of on and off switches because they become bandaid fixes to major problems with the game. When they should be tackling how the feature is implemented not raising or reducing percentages of spawns. I like this suggestion and idea because of that very reason. It indeed shows that what sims 4 needs to create the game we all would want and like is simulation designs not rpg.
Do you think one of the main reasons that the game was made this way is because it was intended to be multi-platform? I could see them easily making a console version of this game, and perhaps even a tablet version. If this is the case, it's a cost issue all the way around because not only does this save them money, but they save money when making the game by giving players fewer options (since all those options are at an additional cost).
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?!
We agree. TS2 got everything right as far as I am concerned because the chance of anything happening was always in the hands of players. Now, it's a reward system which I can't hardly bare, or I would expand that thought to say, the reward system actually thwarts sandbox in more ways than I can count.
I still have not seen in abductions in my game, because I honestly believe random abduction wasn't really all that possible to begin with, and a player might have triggered by their game play without realizing it. Gurus have failed to answer exactly how 'random' was triggered. Since I don't have any Sim in the new career yet, never used the rockets, or built a rocket in game because I'm not going to follow the Aspiration scripts demands, never search for space rocks, and never contact aliens seems to prove imho alien abductions weren't all that much possible in the first place without doing those things. Or perhaps mods in the game somehow, circumvented code to where it actually made it more possible just out of the blue sort of thing.
Because I can say no aliens are in my game that my Sims have met by accident, found, discovered or were abducted by one. And I played this EP everyday for about a month and it didn't happen.
So, to me chances were really low to start with if it ever happened. And my Sims have been out at night, walking in places you would think would be good place to get abducted. Nothing. So, this leaves me to believe since Gurus haven't answered, it wasn't all that often anyway.
Perhaps there was a chance of it happening more if a Sim had already been abducted, sine the team since the TS3 have done things like this to overkill, but first time abduction just doesn't happen like people are claiming imho. Not unless they are doing something to trigger it or like I said a mod of some type causing it to be all over the place.
But I hope Gurus will explain how it was supposed to happen to start with when the player wasn't doing anything at all to attract them, or any object on their lots to attract them. Because like I said I have played many families, many places (all) all over the maps and nothing has happened in my game at all since day one. But I'm also not using the rocket on my lots, or anything of that nature.
So, toning it down seems to me like why? because in a month's time playing everyday almost with many different lots, and Sims it's not happening in my game. Therefore, TS2 had it right, you had to use an expensive telescope, and you had to put in many, many hours for it to happen. But that wasn't locked away from the player like this game.
I am against anything other than a career object being locked away from players, and once unlocked or by cheat even, that should remain unlocked and usable forever by that lot. Not just that family.
Very much an RPG model of a game when I am allowed to unlock the scientist lab station with the over all cheat, but then when mouse over it, it says 'only scientist understand how to use this lab'. Argh, one of the many reasons I will not continue with this game like I did for the last fifteen years. Sandbox allowed builders to unlock objects to place on lots to share, so people could play with those objects to their hearts content in the TS2. RPG keeps them locked until you are forced to actually 'play' their RPG to get the skills to use it. Thwarted on every turn.
I almost forgot! This reminded me that we were given a sort of "cheat" with the TS2 Freetime aspiration perks. Our Knowledge sims could "Summon Aliens" which virtually guaranteed an abduction with a bit of patience. If I used the perk, typically my sim would be abducted within 6 sim hours. I liked having that option because it left the controls up to me. Having a reward that could make the activity happen would be something many players would probably enjoy.
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Not a reward but a buyable object. However, I just reread GuruJill's comments on the March 31st chat with the gurus, and she states the player would have a better chance of abduction with the rocket on the lot, being a scientist etc. So, it is still my belief until someone proves me wrong, Guru's, these overly abundant abductions were caused by game play and not really that 'random' out of nowhere type code.
Because it is stated having the rocket on the lot could cause an abduction. I want the Gurus to tell me at least if this was at all triggered by gameplay, or if it truly was just a random event that could happen at anytime. Because as I have stated since I have not used or been in the new career I have had none at all. So, I stick by the way I play is the reason, because I don't have a rocket on my lots, at all. Nor any new objects like from the new career. And I want someone who's game got their Sim abducted 'out of the blue' tell me what they had on their lots. Did they have the rocket? Had they woohooed an alien? Because I think they didn't really add this as just a 'random event out of the blue' and not triggered by gameplay.
Ha, victory! It took a little bit of save scumming, but putting a rocket on the lot did the trick!
Ugh, all of this aside, I still firmly believe we need control. A huge part of the popularity of the Sims franchise is having control over how we want to play our stories. They need to give us the freedom to express OUR creativity, not be restricted by their "vision." Totally random abductions may not be a big deal to some, but there are others (like me) who have specific ideas over what we want to have happen with our sims. So the more controls they give us, the better. So much of what I have to deal with every stinking day is just accepting what is and coping with it. Accepting the fact that I don't have much control. That is what drew me to the Sims in the first place, that I could control what happened. It's one of the reasons why I like Sims 2 the most. So every time I see an idea that gives players more control, I am all for it.
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You still would get random abductions even with this attached to an object. So really there is no reason for an off and on switch at all. Equally the cancel switch is fine but the idea of an alien is being abducted without your will. So add these switches and you retract from the game. Point being these are mechanics that should be in game but designed better to where the player and how he plays controls it.
A ui menue that has over 50 on and off switches because the list of things players don't like and do like about sims 4 is long. It's ridiculous to think this way and it means the game is poorly designed if players are requesting off switches for any feature in the first place.
Not just multi-platform but remember in sims 3 days when i discussed how drastic a change bringing sims online would be. The game in order to thrive online would have to convert from simulation play too mmorpg in order to thrive and keep players interested. Then as expansions were added the game would have to continue it's mmorpg settings and keep adding more quests and tasks for players in order to keep it thriving otherwise that online community would die off. Same with this current version where if you're brushing through the content fast it's not set up for the type of play that simulations offer. So this is the result of the online game.
I also talked about this and any gaming developer knows this but it's a futile effort trying to switch sims 4 base game and mechanics back to simulation set up. Basically the game is an rpg and it cannot be converted. You cannot change the core of the game once it's been set in stone. Really if you do you might as well build a new game it's just that much work. Basically you're clearly gutting everything and starting over. With that sims 4 will be an rpg based game that has some simulation aspects.
This was the cheaper route for ea, because in reality rpg designs are the cheapest as 100headache mentioned. They are the cheapest models to design ui's and game mechanics, etc after as they don't require much coding or depth. The sad part is about this situation is these additional options actually won't come at a cost. The options we players want are simulation built options many that need to be designed into the beginning with the core of the game. So the reality of it is many of these options would never come. Basically what EA found a way to do is charge the customer more money at the cost of less work. But with the major drop in sales they did not anticipate even with tripling down on the cuts to the game and department im betting they aren't breaking even.
Anyway, back on topic, I would really like to see them link all features to objects/activities or just do anything that brings back more control to the player.
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?!
If I have to use an object to get a chance of abduction, the randomness that's currently in the EP is gone. Use a telescope and maybe get abducted is not random when you set it next to plain old maybe get abducted.
Many people have asked that off switches be available for other life states in general, not for everything that gets added to the game.A patch to turn off vampires and the celebrity system was added in Sims 3. Maxis has considered this appropriate in the past; perhaps they might do so again. I can't recall if the life-state limiting I could do for Supernatural was in-game or modded, but if modded, it had been made moddable, and therefore controllable.
I'm not sure why, if you object to the abduction/pregnancy scenario, you wouldn't want an off switch so it never happens, no matter what you do in-game.
Yes it is. You maybe have a chance to get abducted when you get outside. You maybe have a chance to get abducted with the a telescope. Same thing
Much like you have the chance to not get abducted when going outdoors the same thing happens with the telescope. The only difference here is rather than this be something that just is uncontrolled and affection all players who do not want it, becomes tied to an object where it happens randomly still and outside still but your doing one extra step to get there to keep it from changing the playstyle of another person.
Off switches in fact are the worse designs their are for any game and normally people want them because the find a poorly done feature annoying enough they dont want to deal with it. If the feature is that bad and people can enjoy a poorly done feature, it means that that feature is affecting the way they play too. They pay their money for sims just like you do, their money is the same as yours. If they don't like a feature should ea just shut the feature totally of because they'e got 90 percent of the fanbase complaining and the 10 percent that like it want to keep it on. What about those players who don't want it off but jsut don't want to get abducted as frequently. Right an off switch doesn't cater to a variety of players it only caters to the 1 type of player.
It was the same thing for the vampire and celebrity systems two horrible systems designed into the game both get off an on switches instead of fixing the actual horrible designs. Which i can give clear suggestions as to how both should have been implemented so that they weren't over running the neighborhood and infringing on how other people play.
I would never want the on of switches for that reason because it says i'll tolerate poor designs as long as a turn them off. Again same problems from sims 3 carrying over to sims 4. I should not have to freaking mod my games to fix EA/Maxis poor development choices. Period. Yet here it is again for the 4th series having to do it again. It's just not appropriate and i'll never condone it.