It makes no sense to argue over irl teenagers' height, really. Whether teenagers nowadays are on the taller or shorter side, The Sims is a game where everything is overdrawn and simplified and loaded with stereotypes. Very tall teenagers exist, yes, but in a game the height difference is very important for immersion purposes. If they made teenagers as tall as YAs but gave them softer facial features and maybe a separate clothing category it wouldn't be bad. The issue is - there is absolutely no distinction if you don't own Parenthood, and not everybody does. Height doesn't do much in TS3 to give them personality but at least teenagers in that game don't make you uncomfortable. I know they do make me feel that way in TS4 unless I carefully choose their attire and hair
Teenage sims shouldn’t be getting whims to buy dishwashers!
Unless they live in a home where there is no dishwasher, forcing them to have to wash the dishes by hand every night. I was in this situation as a teenager, and if I was a sim, that whim would keep rolling and never go away!
I think that parenthood has added some good features to enhance Teen sims, and I look forward to eventually getting that GP. I do wish that they would add some updates to Teens and Children in a patch instead of another expansion, though. We got Toddlers for free and, even though they were pretty late, they are very fun and well fleshed-out, an ENORMOUS improvement over TS2's Toddlers.
I don't mind the height thing, since not all real life teens are shorter than adults. Depending on genetics, age, whether they're a late bloomer or an early bloomer, or just plain standing next to a particularly petite adult, real life teens can be basically anywhere in the height spectrum. My older brother had always been very tall (How tall? When he was a newborn, he had to wear clothes made for 1-year-olds. He wasn't fat...just big.) and by the time he was 15, he was already taller than my mom (who is average height for a grown woman, about 5 foot 6). Barring the addition of height and facial maturity sliders for sims, I don't think that the teen appearance thing will ever enter a realm that is satisfactory to all players and their experiences, perceptions, and ideals. Behavior is relatively easy to tweak, but we'll probably have to wait until The Sims 7 for those height and facial maturity sliders, folks.
In the mean time, I'm sorry that the cosmetic issues and comparatively simplistic Teen gameplay is turning so many people off from family play (Though, I did say over a year ago that adding Toddlers wasn't going to make family play magically perfect...). I've actually been having more fun than ever with family play in TS4 because so many of the silly restrictions from TS2 were lifted from Toddlers, Children, and Teens in this game, but I do hope that things do get better for the people who aren't having as much fun as I am.
My teenage son IRL wishes for a dishwasher everyday. He is ready for his younger sister to take over dish duty.
Teens bore me so much At least kids have their own set of aspirations and some objects only they can use, teens have nothing specific to them. And I agree, the height is annoying - in TS3, if I tried to hook a teen sim up with someone for prom, it was easy to tell who were teens vs adults just by looking at them. Now I can't tell so if I want my teen to get a boyfriend/girlfriend, I have to like look and try and figure it out. Which isn't the end of the world by any means, but it would just be nice if they could be a little more easy to distinguish from the adults. The only thing that gives me hope is that maybe they did it that way so they could patch in a pre-teen age or something. Which, tbh, I don't even want....I've never really cared about the pre-teen stage, but if it's more detailed with more to do like toddlers were, I'd be ok with it and it could at least justify the fact that teens look much more adult-ish than teen-ish.
Try and figure it out? When you hover over the sim it states their age group. I 100% agree with you that teens need their OWN. Own objects, own clothes, own activities. A generations EP is needed. Parenthood didn't go far enough. I hope that in the next iteration of the game the developers realize little things matter. Each age group needs their own. I've found how to play the teens in TS4 satisfactorily for me. I hope others find a way for them
Does it do that immediately though?? I was thinking it only did that after you got to know them better but I'll admit I could be 100% wrong!! I honestly have yet to play a sim from birth to death and part of the reason is because the teen stage just kills it and puts such a halt to my gameplay because there just isn't much to do. I've started and restarted legacies so many times cause I just get bored and give up...
it's instant love. you don't have to have met the person to know if they are adult or teen.
I have mods in my game, so I'm perfectly fine with the teens, as my mods allow for more options and possible stories. I miss the TS3 teens, because I liked that they would go to prom, graduation, learn to drive, and had a curfew. All those things were just fun to play. I really loved when parents would take a vacation and teens could throw wild house parties that might get broken up by the cops. Teens were just more fun in TS3. Maybe we'll get a surprise in the new year and get some new teen gameplay, I won't hold my breath, but I do hope something is in the works.
Before generations ep what actions separated teens from YA? According to EA and even ppl on the forums at the time, generations was not well received. Now all I hear is "we need a generations pack". The things ppl are praising weren't in TS3 initially either, which made teen sims pretty boring prior to. Parenthood was a good first start, I believe a generations EP needs to happen.
I always had the impression Generations wasn't "well received" mostly because people collectively decided that things it brought should have been in the base game, as they're very regular life stuff everyone experiences. There was a lot of criticism from people who always demand base game to have every possible feature imaginable. I see people saying that celebrity system should be in the base, lol. Go figure. Those people were just very loud. When you go on metacritic, etc. negative reviews are mostly from people who don't enjoy family play in the first place so I have no idea what they were expecting.
All in all, generations was not well received because people who don't play families behaved like spoiled children and got offended that a certain play style got its own EP and they somehow saw it as things being taken away from them (because you know, it could have been something they would enjoy)
truth! especially where you said there are folks running around wanting EVERYTHING in the base game. like come on, and then they complain about the cost. I loved generations from the jump. It improved my game play so much. i just find it ironic and a bit insulting for folks to now be clamoring for generations when basically they dogged it out when it was released for TS3
Most teens do not look like adults? Have you seen many teens lately? Many in my area could be mistaken as adults. My own daughter has been mistaken to be 21 and she is only 14. Also, I have worked in plenty places where we have to see ID for tobacco and alcohol products, and can tell you that teens can in fact look like adults. Adults can also be mistaken as very young teens. I have looked around the local high school and sometimes can not tell the difference between the "adult" teachers and teens. Young adult at least where I live is what we call teenagers.[/quote]
This happens to me, but in reverse, I'm in my 20's and people always ask me for ID when I go to pubs and bottleshops because I look like I'm 16-18. I even had the problem of people thinking I was younger when I was 18. I've only been mistaken for older two times, both when I was 16 and the people in question thought I was 21.
Give our Vampires back their fangs!!! Reverse the Nerf!!! Occult simmers should not be shoved aside for the "realism players"! It's time Occult lovers/players started to demand equal treatment. #JusticeForOccults
Teens are still sadly lacking. I’m reading all the replies about teens looking like adults and I’m surprised. I live near a local primary school and high school, I see children every day walking to and from school while I’m out with my dogs and I’m always surprised at how short they are. I’m not particularly tall but there is no way I would mistake the high school kids for adults. Obviously they are exceptions to the rule. But in the sims 4 all the teens look like young adults. Parenthood didn’t change that aspect.
I agree with the original post, teens are diabolical in this game. Even with Parenthood. The only thing that gives them is a silly walk, the odd phase that doesn’t mean much. (My teen had a phase where she didn’t want to be near her family; what did she do when left to her own devices? Hung out with her family! She was happy l. Of course.
Compare that to my teens in the sims 3. My teen is having a mood swing. Within minutes of that she rolled a wish to beat someone up, to play a prank and to skip school. Left to her own devices she went up to her Mum and picked a fight with her. Her mood swing went into the next sim day and during that time my sim acted exactly as a teenage girl would. The day after she was back to her normal self but her relationship with her Mum has taken a huge hit.
Even in the sims 2 my teens act like teens! They get appropriate wants relevant to a teen. I think a lot of the problem is sims 4 teens get the same whims adults do. Even children do and that’s quite frankly weird. Teenage sims shouldn’t be getting whims to buy dishwashers! That is part of the problem. Teens don’t act like teens.
My teen sims in TS3 were a handful and a half when going through the mood swings (kinda like my sister and I IRL), when left to their devices they'd play pranks, pick on their younger and older siblings, they'd even sneak out of the house if I was not paying attention. In TS4 the parenthood pack was a step in the right direction for making teens feel like teens, but clearly, the meat of the pack is geared towards child and toddler sims and how adult sims deal with it hence the parenting skill and all. But like you said, it's strange that TS4 children and teen sims get adult whims, like locking doors or wanting to buy a cooking station (my teen sim who does all the cooking wants a cooking station).
Give our Vampires back their fangs!!! Reverse the Nerf!!! Occult simmers should not be shoved aside for the "realism players"! It's time Occult lovers/players started to demand equal treatment. #JusticeForOccults
Personally I think that we can see a difference. Height is not everything, they still have a youthful glow about them that made me really too uncomfortable to woohoo with one at some point. I think they did a good job, especially with their mannerisms.
Teens bore me so much At least kids have their own set of aspirations and some objects only they can use, teens have nothing specific to them. And I agree, the height is annoying - in TS3, if I tried to hook a teen sim up with someone for prom, it was easy to tell who were teens vs adults just by looking at them. Now I can't tell so if I want my teen to get a boyfriend/girlfriend, I have to like look and try and figure it out. Which isn't the end of the world by any means, but it would just be nice if they could be a little more easy to distinguish from the adults. The only thing that gives me hope is that maybe they did it that way so they could patch in a pre-teen age or something. Which, tbh, I don't even want....I've never really cared about the pre-teen stage, but if it's more detailed with more to do like toddlers were, I'd be ok with it and it could at least justify the fact that teens look much more adult-ish than teen-ish.
Try and figure it out? When you hover over the sim it states their age group. I 100% agree with you that teens need their OWN. Own objects, own clothes, own activities. A generations EP is needed. Parenthood didn't go far enough. I hope that in the next iteration of the game the developers realize little things matter. Each age group needs their own. I've found how to play the teens in TS4 satisfactorily for me. I hope others find a way for them
Does it do that immediately though?? I was thinking it only did that after you got to know them better but I'll admit I could be 100% wrong!! I honestly have yet to play a sim from birth to death and part of the reason is because the teen stage just kills it and puts such a halt to my gameplay because there just isn't much to do. I've started and restarted legacies so many times cause I just get bored and give up...
it's instant love. you don't have to have met the person to know if they are adult or teen.
Good lord...apparently I'm SUPER observant... Thanks for the insight - still 100% on the same page as you that teens need more, but that makes it less of a hassle going forward!!
Are teens in past sims games better? From what I remember they’re also basically adults that have generic restrictions, and are shorter. From a gameplay perspective they seem just as dull if not duller.
I find them to be a little dull myself. Don't get me wrong I like the mood swings that came with parenthood but they are just adults with restrictions and a slightly squeakier voice.
Are teens in past sims games better? From what I remember they’re also basically adults that have generic restrictions, and are shorter. From a gameplay perspective they seem just as dull if not duller.
I thought TS3 teens were pretty great....they could go to prom, learn to drive, join after school activities (so could children), they got to actually have a graduation where you got to see what they were voted, if they became valedictorian, etc. Little things like that went a long way. I agree that they really are close enough to adults that it's hard to come up with a TON of unique different things, but those things I felt added a lot to the gameplay in TS3. I loved sending my teens off to prom and having them come home and have a little crown and cute little prom picture to display....I miss the prom and the graduation most of all.
Teens bore me so much At least kids have their own set of aspirations and some objects only they can use, teens have nothing specific to them. And I agree, the height is annoying - in TS3, if I tried to hook a teen sim up with someone for prom, it was easy to tell who were teens vs adults just by looking at them. Now I can't tell so if I want my teen to get a boyfriend/girlfriend, I have to like look and try and figure it out. Which isn't the end of the world by any means, but it would just be nice if they could be a little more easy to distinguish from the adults. The only thing that gives me hope is that maybe they did it that way so they could patch in a pre-teen age or something. Which, tbh, I don't even want....I've never really cared about the pre-teen stage, but if it's more detailed with more to do like toddlers were, I'd be ok with it and it could at least justify the fact that teens look much more adult-ish than teen-ish.
Try and figure it out? When you hover over the sim it states their age group. I 100% agree with you that teens need their OWN. Own objects, own clothes, own activities. A generations EP is needed. Parenthood didn't go far enough. I hope that in the next iteration of the game the developers realize little things matter. Each age group needs their own. I've found how to play the teens in TS4 satisfactorily for me. I hope others find a way for them
Does it do that immediately though?? I was thinking it only did that after you got to know them better but I'll admit I could be 100% wrong!! I honestly have yet to play a sim from birth to death and part of the reason is because the teen stage just kills it and puts such a halt to my gameplay because there just isn't much to do. I've started and restarted legacies so many times cause I just get bored and give up...
it's instant love. you don't have to have met the person to know if they are adult or teen.
Good lord...apparently I'm SUPER observant... Thanks for the insight - still 100% on the same page as you that teens need more, but that makes it less of a hassle going forward!!
Haha. It's a bit funny you hadn't noticed the age group identification
Teens are still sadly lacking. I’m reading all the replies about teens looking like adults and I’m surprised. I live near a local primary school and high school, I see children every day walking to and from school while I’m out with my dogs and I’m always surprised at how short they are. I’m not particularly tall but there is no way I would mistake the high school kids for adults. Obviously they are exceptions to the rule. But in the sims 4 all the teens look like young adults. Parenthood didn’t change that aspect.
I agree with the original post, teens are diabolical in this game. Even with Parenthood. The only thing that gives them is a silly walk, the odd phase that doesn’t mean much. (My teen had a phase where she didn’t want to be near her family; what did she do when left to her own devices? Hung out with her family! She was happy l. Of course.
Compare that to my teens in the sims 3. My teen is having a mood swing. Within minutes of that she rolled a wish to beat someone up, to play a prank and to skip school. Left to her own devices she went up to her Mum and picked a fight with her. Her mood swing went into the next sim day and during that time my sim acted exactly as a teenage girl would. The day after she was back to her normal self but her relationship with her Mum has taken a huge hit.
Even in the sims 2 my teens act like teens! They get appropriate wants relevant to a teen. I think a lot of the problem is sims 4 teens get the same whims adults do. Even children do and that’s quite frankly weird. Teenage sims shouldn’t be getting whims to buy dishwashers! That is part of the problem. Teens don’t act like teens.
My teen sims in TS3 were a handful and a half when going through the mood swings (kinda like my sister and I IRL), when left to their devices they'd play pranks, pick on their younger and older siblings, they'd even sneak out of the house if I was not paying attention. In TS4 the parenthood pack was a step in the right direction for making teens feel like teens, but clearly, the meat of the pack is geared towards child and toddler sims and how adult sims deal with it hence the parenting skill and all. But like you said, it's strange that TS4 children and teen sims get adult whims, like locking doors or wanting to buy a cooking station (my teen sim who does all the cooking wants a cooking station).
Yeah when my sims 3 teens go through mood swings it’s as the description says, the whole house better watch out! In my sims 4 game my teen had the rebellious phase but absolutely nothing happened. It was business as usual.
Whims are an issue over all. Children get whims to take baths with soaks and go to the sauna, their parents constantly roll whims to buy a puppet theatre even though there is one in the house. My teens get whims to buy dishwashers but no real teen specific whims. Like for example my teen in the sims 2 wants to have her first kiss and get an A in school, my teen in the sims 3 wants to go to prom and play pranks. The sims 4 badly needs age related whims.
Most teens do not look like adults? Have you seen many teens lately?
Also, have you seen many adults lately? (Or "lately"). The difference between 15 and 25 is 🐸🐸🐸🐸 small. So is between 25 and 35. Adults "get younger". 55 is the "new" 40.
It makes no sense to argue over irl teenagers' height, really. Whether teenagers nowadays are on the taller or shorter side, The Sims is a game where everything is overdrawn and simplified and loaded with stereotypes. Very tall teenagers exist, yes, but in a game the height difference is very important for immersion purposes. If they made teenagers as tall as YAs but gave them softer facial features and maybe a separate clothing category it wouldn't be bad. The issue is - there is absolutely no distinction if you don't own Parenthood, and not everybody does. Height doesn't do much in TS3 to give them personality but at least teenagers in that game don't make you uncomfortable. I know they do make me feel that way in TS4 unless I carefully choose their attire and hair
This is exactly what I think. Quibble while saying ''Teens seem like adult blabla'' NO. Sims are made about stereotypes. So we need teens seem like teens. Because in my school we are all teens, and no one seems like adult! And don't say ''preteens'' because we are not. 15,16,17 years old is preteen? No.
The teens in Sims 4 have always been my favorite so I never understood the fuss. I felt this way before Parenthood but agree Parenthood really adds to the uniqueness of the stage.
It makes no sense to argue over irl teenagers' height, really. Whether teenagers nowadays are on the taller or shorter side, The Sims is a game where everything is overdrawn and simplified and loaded with stereotypes. Very tall teenagers exist, yes, but in a game the height difference is very important for immersion purposes. If they made teenagers as tall as YAs but gave them softer facial features and maybe a separate clothing category it wouldn't be bad. The issue is - there is absolutely no distinction if you don't own Parenthood, and not everybody does. Height doesn't do much in TS3 to give them personality but at least teenagers in that game don't make you uncomfortable. I know they do make me feel that way in TS4 unless I carefully choose their attire and hair
This is exactly what I think. Quibble while saying ''Teens seem like adult blabla'' NO. Sims are made about stereotypes. So we need teens seem like teens. Because in my school we are all teens, and no one seems like adult! And don't say ''preteens'' because we are not. 15,16,17 years old is preteen? No.
I don't think you get the argument. We are NOT calling 15-17 year old "preteens". We are arguing that the people who say teens should be shorter confuses 15 and 12 year olds. Aka they want the teens to look like preteens.
I am maybe a whole inch taller as an adult than I was as a teen. I'm 5'1, I'd say I was about 5'0 through most of my teens, so I was about as tall as I was ever going to be by that age. I like the teens, sometimes I play them on their own.
My main issue with the teens isn’t just their height, it’s their behaviours, my current teenage sim in TS4 has constant whims to make viruses, paint, buy diahwashers and pools. My issue is that they have very few teen specific whims so they don’t have typical teenage wants. I kiss the get a certain grade, graiduate, have first kiss type wants and wishes. It makes teens feel like teens.
Are teens in past sims games better? From what I remember they’re also basically adults that have generic restrictions, and are shorter. From a gameplay perspective they seem just as dull if not duller.
I thought TS3 teens were pretty great....they could go to prom, learn to drive, join after school activities (so could children), they got to actually have a graduation where you got to see what they were voted, if they became valedictorian, etc. Little things like that went a long way. I agree that they really are close enough to adults that it's hard to come up with a TON of unique different things, but those things I felt added a lot to the gameplay in TS3. I loved sending my teens off to prom and having them come home and have a little crown and cute little prom picture to display....I miss the prom and the graduation most of all.
Oh I agree, things like prom and graduation are a must, if they ever were to come in the Sims 4 I'd imagine them to be a live event as oppose to just a rabbit hole one, but I'm comparing specifically base game teens. Were base game teens in Sims 3 all that different than young adults +?
Edit: I must add that the way generations and parenthood expanded on teens in their respective game did it both differently. In generations I noticed that not much has changed with the life stage itself, give or take the few mood swings and being able to get grounded, but what I noticed generations add was additional activities for teens to do with pranks, after school activities, throwing house parties when parents are away, etc. while parenthood mainly focused on the behaviour and dynamic of the teen life stage by adding things such as mood swings, phases, sibling rivalries, on top of things like school projects, and being able to set curfew and being able to get grounded. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just saying that the way each pack expanded on teens in each game are quite different. I would love to see additional teen exclusive gameplay like prom, graduation, a prank system, etc. for sims 4.
I've read a few mention the phases and mood swings in parenthood don't change their teens behaviour much, but from what I've experienced in my game, when the pack works and isn't bugged (I had a bug where a phase was permanently set on a sim and wasn't going away, even after a few sim weeks and it was basically not even in effect, so I had to cheat it off) the phases really do make a difference, especially when a teen sim of mine is in the mean streak phase, and going through an angry mood swing, they are reckless and are mean even to their closes friends. I wasn't much of a family player before parenthood, and I still am not, I usually play with aging off, with a family, not for the family aspect but more for the character aspect to tell a story, and parenthood added a lot of story opportunity to my game. An example, a teen of mine want's to go out to a party with his friends, and so he sneaks out past curfew to go, when he comes home he gets grounded and isn't aloud to see his friends for the time being, after he's been grounded he started going through a mood swing, and at this point the story options I may want to pursue would be to have him obey the punishment, or break the punishment and sneak out some more, with both situations affecting his character values along the way, and having different outcomes. If I wish to break the punishment he will receive an even greater punishment from his parents later on, which may result in my teen sim rebelling against his parents and losing a good relationship with them, or accept the punishment and make amends with his parents, again in both cases affecting his character value traits.
My main issue with the teens isn’t just their height, it’s their behaviours, my current teenage sim in TS4 has constant whims to make viruses, paint, buy diahwashers and pools. My issue is that they have very few teen specific whims so they don’t have typical teenage wants. I kiss the get a certain grade, graiduate, have first kiss type wants and wishes. It makes teens feel like teens.
On the note of whims, they need to redo the whole whims system, it's not just teens that whims don't work well for, it's just the system itself seems kind of weird for all the life stages. I want all life stages to have exclusive whims that pertain to their life stage and situation, at this point whims are just generic and pointless to me.
My main issue with the teens isn’t just their height, it’s their behaviours, my current teenage sim in TS4 has constant whims to make viruses, paint, buy diahwashers and pools. My issue is that they have very few teen specific whims so they don’t have typical teenage wants. I kiss the get a certain grade, graiduate, have first kiss type wants and wishes. It makes teens feel like teens.
My sims parents are always looking at their teens making viruses and saying "that's my boy and/or girl".
whoever said: if you dont like it, dont play it.. never understood that criticism made this game. And usually until they bump up again something they dont like too.
Comments
My teenage son IRL wishes for a dishwasher everyday. He is ready for his younger sister to take over dish duty.
it's instant love. you don't have to have met the person to know if they are adult or teen.
truth! especially where you said there are folks running around wanting EVERYTHING in the base game. like come on, and then they complain about the cost. I loved generations from the jump. It improved my game play so much. i just find it ironic and a bit insulting for folks to now be clamoring for generations when basically they dogged it out when it was released for TS3
This happens to me, but in reverse, I'm in my 20's and people always ask me for ID when I go to pubs and bottleshops because I look like I'm 16-18. I even had the problem of people thinking I was younger when I was 18. I've only been mistaken for older two times, both when I was 16 and the people in question thought I was 21.
My teen sims in TS3 were a handful and a half when going through the mood swings (kinda like my sister and I IRL), when left to their devices they'd play pranks, pick on their younger and older siblings, they'd even sneak out of the house if I was not paying attention. In TS4 the parenthood pack was a step in the right direction for making teens feel like teens, but clearly, the meat of the pack is geared towards child and toddler sims and how adult sims deal with it hence the parenting skill and all. But like you said, it's strange that TS4 children and teen sims get adult whims, like locking doors or wanting to buy a cooking station (my teen sim who does all the cooking wants a cooking station).
Good lord...apparently I'm SUPER observant...
I thought TS3 teens were pretty great....they could go to prom, learn to drive, join after school activities (so could children), they got to actually have a graduation where you got to see what they were voted, if they became valedictorian, etc. Little things like that went a long way. I agree that they really are close enough to adults that it's hard to come up with a TON of unique different things, but those things I felt added a lot to the gameplay in TS3. I loved sending my teens off to prom and having them come home and have a little crown and cute little prom picture to display....I miss the prom and the graduation most of all.
Haha. It's a bit funny you hadn't noticed the age group identification
Yeah when my sims 3 teens go through mood swings it’s as the description says, the whole house better watch out! In my sims 4 game my teen had the rebellious phase but absolutely nothing happened. It was business as usual.
Whims are an issue over all. Children get whims to take baths with soaks and go to the sauna, their parents constantly roll whims to buy a puppet theatre even though there is one in the house. My teens get whims to buy dishwashers but no real teen specific whims. Like for example my teen in the sims 2 wants to have her first kiss and get an A in school, my teen in the sims 3 wants to go to prom and play pranks. The sims 4 badly needs age related whims.
Also, have you seen many adults lately? (Or "lately"). The difference between 15 and 25 is 🐸🐸🐸🐸 small. So is between 25 and 35. Adults "get younger". 55 is the "new" 40.
This is exactly what I think. Quibble while saying ''Teens seem like adult blabla'' NO. Sims are made about stereotypes. So we need teens seem like teens. Because in my school we are all teens, and no one seems like adult! And don't say ''preteens'' because we are not. 15,16,17 years old is preteen? No.
I don't think you get the argument. We are NOT calling 15-17 year old "preteens". We are arguing that the people who say teens should be shorter confuses 15 and 12 year olds. Aka they want the teens to look like preteens.
Oh I agree, things like prom and graduation are a must, if they ever were to come in the Sims 4 I'd imagine them to be a live event as oppose to just a rabbit hole one, but I'm comparing specifically base game teens. Were base game teens in Sims 3 all that different than young adults +?
Edit: I must add that the way generations and parenthood expanded on teens in their respective game did it both differently. In generations I noticed that not much has changed with the life stage itself, give or take the few mood swings and being able to get grounded, but what I noticed generations add was additional activities for teens to do with pranks, after school activities, throwing house parties when parents are away, etc. while parenthood mainly focused on the behaviour and dynamic of the teen life stage by adding things such as mood swings, phases, sibling rivalries, on top of things like school projects, and being able to set curfew and being able to get grounded. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just saying that the way each pack expanded on teens in each game are quite different. I would love to see additional teen exclusive gameplay like prom, graduation, a prank system, etc. for sims 4.
I've read a few mention the phases and mood swings in parenthood don't change their teens behaviour much, but from what I've experienced in my game, when the pack works and isn't bugged (I had a bug where a phase was permanently set on a sim and wasn't going away, even after a few sim weeks and it was basically not even in effect, so I had to cheat it off) the phases really do make a difference, especially when a teen sim of mine is in the mean streak phase, and going through an angry mood swing, they are reckless and are mean even to their closes friends. I wasn't much of a family player before parenthood, and I still am not, I usually play with aging off, with a family, not for the family aspect but more for the character aspect to tell a story, and parenthood added a lot of story opportunity to my game. An example, a teen of mine want's to go out to a party with his friends, and so he sneaks out past curfew to go, when he comes home he gets grounded and isn't aloud to see his friends for the time being, after he's been grounded he started going through a mood swing, and at this point the story options I may want to pursue would be to have him obey the punishment, or break the punishment and sneak out some more, with both situations affecting his character values along the way, and having different outcomes. If I wish to break the punishment he will receive an even greater punishment from his parents later on, which may result in my teen sim rebelling against his parents and losing a good relationship with them, or accept the punishment and make amends with his parents, again in both cases affecting his character value traits.
On the note of whims, they need to redo the whole whims system, it's not just teens that whims don't work well for, it's just the system itself seems kind of weird for all the life stages. I want all life stages to have exclusive whims that pertain to their life stage and situation, at this point whims are just generic and pointless to me.