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Open Neighborhood Rather than Open World
orkhid22
Posts: 2,226 Member
In TS3 the entire world was open and i think this contributed to difficulty running the game. In TS4 the active lot and a portion of the neighborhood within the world is open. I'm not sure if this can be done for the current iteration, but in TS5 keep the neighborhood open but include not just the open spaces but also the lots (residential or commercial) in that area. That should be a happy medium between fully open world of TS3 and the half open world of TS4.
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I feel a fair mix between the two would be a fair compromise. In S2, Sims walked by the lots and could be interacted with. In S3, you could see your neibhbours in their yards and coming and going from their homes.
In S4, you can see sims out and about, but they're difficult to interact with, and you never see them out and about in their own yards. There is an illusion of sims out and about, but the feeling of them actually being present is not there.
I feel a happy medium could be met. An open neighbourhood could definitely be achievable if an open world could be. I would compromise if an acceptable compromise was offered.
However at this point (since apparently there's a lot of lower specs), in order to get away from the awful rotating loading screen, I'd settle just a little for a fully open neighborhood sectional. But only if it's like this:
I feel like that's more than fair even for the lower spec computers. Like absolutely fully opened parts, with no type of loading.
OR
My favorite: cut the openness completely in half. That way one half of the map is completely open untill you get to the other half. Either way, as my mom would say "You gotta give me more to work with"
Calculating all the actions of every Sim in the world was never that big a draw for me, as those Sims just weren't that interesting.
Load screens are 30 seconds, tops. Big whoop. But apparently that's somehow inexcusable, even though TS3's load times could be upwards of 5 minutes.
Frankly, TS4 does a fine job of simulating a living, breathing world. But because it's missing a feature from a past game (even though it was a cra.p feature), people just won't let it go.
It's been 3 years, and frankly I'm sick of hearing about it.
With 4 a semi open world is an okay compromise on paper, execution is another matter. It bothers me that when I'm in San Myshuno for example and scroll out that the majority of the map is just set dressing. It looks pretty but pretty doesn't cut it.
As said already there is a lot of illusion in the sims 4. Particularly in San Myshuno, look down in the financial area and there's lots of fake people walking by. In other worlds community lots fill very quickly but always with the same people that will behave the same way, I'm not sure an open world or open neighbourhood would fix that.
When I play the sims 2 I don't mind closed worlds. I love community lots and the "feel" of them. I love that sims will come and go and just do their own thing and the npc characters that make the lot feel alive. There's a sense of community and you can't guarantee who will appear. So I don't have any problems with a closed world done right. But I prefer open given the chance.
That kind of justifies Sims 3's loading times. If a loading screen in S4 is 30 sec max and if I visit 10 places in a session I've now equated Sims 3's 5 minutes loading screen. If I visit 20 places in S4 I've now spent 10 minutes in loading screens. Give me one long load at the start so I can be done with loading screens. And yes Joanne65 some rabbit holes were fun school I liked but if going to wish for future content might as well aim high lol
That only works if you change locations every in-game day.
If your Sims spend their lives at home and only go out occasionally, then it's an unnecessary burden.
For example, I did not like how buggy the game was due to the open world (now, if they did a better job next time that could be fixed). I also hated that when we did get loading screens (vacations etc.) the loading screens were unbearable long, so while I loved World Adventure's gameplay, I stopped using it because it took too long to get to the world. Another problem I had with it was that when a sim wanted to go to the other end of town, it took forever to drive there... it was longer than the loading screens are now and by the time my sim got there all his needs were so low that he could go straight home. Lastly and I know that depended on the computer, my world felt very empty. All lots were empty all the time.
So, I don't need an open world to enjoy the game, but if they added that feature, they better do a good job at it
I don't mind that TS4 is closed, though.
Except that the open world sucked. The worlds in TS3 were boring, annoying, and it took my sims like half a day to get anywhere. I'd rather not waste my time with that.
Both have their nice parts. Some people really hate the backdrops, while I actually like them (I am not a builder though so to me the bachground adds to realism). Doesn't mean the people who hate them don't have valid points
I've don't think it's fair to call either world boring though. Sims 3 worlds are gorgeous and full of things to explore. Sims 4 worlds are pretty and there are some really lovely parts, I just ache to explore every inch of the map and kind of wish so much of it wasn't set dressing. But it is pretty.
But let's not turn this thread into sims 3 open world vs sims 4 closed worlds.
It's important to me too. As someone who likes to build my own worlds and have the surroundings match or at least look like it belongs with my builds, I am not a fan of backdrops. I don't like them at all.