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Breaking up a marriage of 15 years (I uninstalled the game, it hurts)
Marieke020
Posts: 57 Member
I don't have the illusion that a developer will read this post. And I do not intend to start a discussion. I just felt the need to explain why I uninstalled the game.
This was a difficult thing for me to do. I play the Sims for 15 years and it used to be the only game that could keep me interested and I didn't even feel the need to try other games. I played it a lot and the game was an important part of my life.
Sims 4 changed this. For the very first time my love for the game faded. Instead I got disappointment upon disappointment, I got annoyed by it, stopped playing and now I reached the point that I lost all faith in improvement.
In a marriage the only sensible thing left to do is breaking up.
So where did it go wrong?
Well it feels a bit like the Sims went to plastic surgery for a younger look, but had to pay this with their soul.
Unlike others I don't think adding seasons, pets or toddlers would make the game a better game. It's the heart of the game that fails.
The game turned in a kind of interactive movie where you can influence the animations that are played on screen. As a player you can change the looks of the cast and the setting (in a very limited way) and then watch this repetitive cycle of animations in the order you choose. And then try to keep the illusion when a white screen appears when changing sets.
There is no real gameplay involved like in previous editions of the Sims.
Well you can win awards for checking off boxes that say "play this animation 50 times".
And a player can still collect things. But collecting things doesn't matter at all. You can display your collection for a different setting and that's it. When growing a perfect fruit doesn't influence your food or nectar, why bother.
I tried, really. I tried to challenge myself to get all achievements. Even the 100 generations one. This was a true torture. Until this day I wonder why I pushed myself to play while I was completely bored with what I was doing. Addiction maybe, for old times sake?
Fortunately I found an new love where I feel as passionate about as I used to be with the Sims (Minecraft) and I hope they can keep my attention for as long as 15 years.
Thank you Sims, for all those good years in the past, but it's time to go.
This was a difficult thing for me to do. I play the Sims for 15 years and it used to be the only game that could keep me interested and I didn't even feel the need to try other games. I played it a lot and the game was an important part of my life.
Sims 4 changed this. For the very first time my love for the game faded. Instead I got disappointment upon disappointment, I got annoyed by it, stopped playing and now I reached the point that I lost all faith in improvement.
In a marriage the only sensible thing left to do is breaking up.
So where did it go wrong?
Well it feels a bit like the Sims went to plastic surgery for a younger look, but had to pay this with their soul.
Unlike others I don't think adding seasons, pets or toddlers would make the game a better game. It's the heart of the game that fails.
The game turned in a kind of interactive movie where you can influence the animations that are played on screen. As a player you can change the looks of the cast and the setting (in a very limited way) and then watch this repetitive cycle of animations in the order you choose. And then try to keep the illusion when a white screen appears when changing sets.
There is no real gameplay involved like in previous editions of the Sims.
Well you can win awards for checking off boxes that say "play this animation 50 times".
And a player can still collect things. But collecting things doesn't matter at all. You can display your collection for a different setting and that's it. When growing a perfect fruit doesn't influence your food or nectar, why bother.
I tried, really. I tried to challenge myself to get all achievements. Even the 100 generations one. This was a true torture. Until this day I wonder why I pushed myself to play while I was completely bored with what I was doing. Addiction maybe, for old times sake?
Fortunately I found an new love where I feel as passionate about as I used to be with the Sims (Minecraft) and I hope they can keep my attention for as long as 15 years.
Thank you Sims, for all those good years in the past, but it's time to go.
162
Comments
Wow. What a perfect way to describe it.
I'm sorry you feel like you can't enjoy the series anymore and have to walk away. I enjoyed reading your feedback and hope the devs take note because you're right, the core does fail. It is shallow and no amount of content will matter until it's corrected. We need meaningful game play that actually changes our sims world even if it's only in a small way like you said the fruit changing the quality of the recipe.
But that's no reason to completely give up on the sims.
Personally, I went back to playing TS2. The earlier versions are far more fun than 4, so why not continue to play them?
In the future we might get lucky, and there might be a TS5 that is everything that TS4 could/should have been. I don't expect it, but what's life without a little hope?
It really is.
I still play Sims3 sometimes, I totally love to achieve a basement full of tiberium, using transfiguration with collectables and perfect aged nectar. And then tinkering for hours with cast for a perfect display. And all of this was already possible with the first EP.
I might be interested in a new generation when there is some grinding for survival involved.
But I learned my lesson and will not buy it at once, I must be really convinced before I commit again.
Thomas Wolfe says you can never go back, and I suppose he's right in that you'll never fully recapture the sense of discovery and wonder you had when you played the Sims for the very first time.
Just take heart in knowing that no matter how long it takes those little guys will always be on call for you to pay them a visit, and maybe fix a broken toilet or two.
I only play since a year and it is everything I want from a game. I like it that they added Lama's and that you can do some Cas by adding glasses to them. It must be a reference to the Sims
I wished there was a game that had the best elements of both in them.
To reach the point of uninstallation is a heartbreaking situation, as nothing can ever truly replace the love of a favourite 'toy' in the same way.
Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with ts4. Well, it's more a like/dislike relationship. Sometimes I can have great fun with it and other times I just see all the things wrong with it. I find that pretty weird, but there you go, I can't help the way I feel.
At the moment I am in ts3 mode. That was always my favourite version and probably always will be so at least I still have that to play.
Thank you for making me smile.
Your last line could have been written by SimguruGnome dressed up as the Social Bunny on a secret mission to hug sad players.
if EA & the devs don't care for players quitting like this
then what more is there to say
@Marieke020
I know exactly how you feel. It's just sad. Even, if I see how the community fall apart over TS4. This big community, who was united in the past, no matter what playstyle......TS2 and TS3, for everyone there was something.
Now I see just awful disscussions full of resentment and player, who begging the devs to fix old issues like culling, relationship culling and autonomous romance. But nothing change.
TS2 was always my favorite, TS3 I always "just" liked it. But TS4 has maked me love TS3 and I enjoy it now, like I did never before
So did I. I wasted 120 Euros, so it was a quiet "expensive" lesson. And if there gonna be a TS5, you can be sure, I will look more than twice and watch a view reviews, before I buy it. I lost every trust in Maxis/EA and I will never buy anything "blind" again.
I fully understand why it's not important to them. It's not people who stick to a game that buy new games, it's those who get bored.
I know I did, in my search for a new game to dedicate to I bought lots of plum, while I didn't even know what games were on the market when I loved the Sims.
It makes me sad for the future of gaming and when you would have asked me a year ago I would have thought a subscription fee would be ridiculous, but now I think it might help to improve quality,
For now im happy hanging with my Sims 3 and watching what happens with Sims 4
Yes, it was hard. And it took me a while to set myself to do it. I think the new content was the last straw "oh no, not another set of animations and no interesting gameplay" that made me do it.
And I'm still mourning, refreshing this page, comforting myself with the comments, while I meant to type one post and sneak away.
We have cable/internet providers in my area who are always advertising non-stop with commercials and mailbox crud (that automatically gets dropped into the recycle bin) trying to get new customers. They give all kinds of free upgrades to new customers and price breaks and etc. They give nothing to long-term customers and are semi-abusive to them at times... people who have paid loyally for years get really awful customer support for equipment that should've been long upgraded, there's a constant monthly increase to their bill for dubious reasons, etc.
For all of their begging, they neglect to retain their customers so other (often just as bad) providers benefit from the bleed off. So... we the customers have to continuously cycle through cable/internet providers every few months just to be treated decently. I always wonder how much more profitable these entities would be for these "captains of industry" if they just treated their customers decently and provided a decent service to begin with.
I think it's the short-term minded, corporatist need to see an immediate profit so somebody on the corporate ladder can take credit... the long-term is no longer important.
I still play TS2 and TS3, and they are awesome games. The Sims 2 aged very well in terms of gameplay, though the sims themselves are very ugly.
Thats why I usually say that if they had just copied Ts2 completely with better graphics and tools, it would have been already a much better game than TS4. They didn't even need to be original or think much abut it, and it would still be better.
Beautiful
ETA: although I'm quite happy with my Sims 3 game, that's hardly a solution isn't it? I'm not worried about not being entertained anymore, I regret they don't seem to take this franchise seriously anymore (talking about the company, not the devs). I like the little detail that your new love happens to be Minecraft OP. Because that game is all about freedom and creativity and not about graphics. It sort of symbolizes what it's all about.
I know the feeling but I already got it, when the Sims 3 was completely ruined and never got properly patched. After the big disappointment The Sims 3 Island Paradise was for me, also been playing since the early Sims 1 days, I was about to give up, and I had learned my lesson. so I waited for several months before I thought W T.... and bought the Sims 4 base game and Outdoor Retreat. I had in mind that the developers had said: This is a whole NEW way of playing the Sims, and after being a bit disappointed with the small surroundings in Willow Creek, I fell in love with the game. The Sims 4 has convinced me by a much better and faster gameplay, a very wonderful graphic all over and sims so full of fun, feelings and soul. I could never wish for anything better. Now I am so happy playing that I never was before.
I slowly started to play more different games near the end of the TS3 lifespan, and it increased with time. When I feel like simming I go back to TS2, sometimes TS3 (sadly TS1 doesn’t want to work properly on my computer), but it’s not my most often played game any more.
The positive thing that TS4 did was making me appreciate TS3 more than I used to before. Compared to it TS3 is just completely awesome, and it definitely wasn’t when I compared it to TS2 in 2009.
Pond & Sea Water Overhaul (TS2)
Simblr (my TS2 CC)
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