I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
Yep. And everything is excuses, excuses, excuses: it's too hard, it will take too long, it will be too expensive. The latest thing is: "we wanted to try something new." That excuse being used to explain why Cats & Dogs was released as a purposely empty shell. A shell that was meant to be filled with subsequent SPs and GPs. My First Pet Stuff was clearly in development at the same times as the EP that it should have been included in.
To give a bit of perspective:
TS3 came with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and snakes. Plus, cats and dogs had proper beds (not rugs), outdoor houses, and a variety of toys to play with (other than 5,000 different balls). Pets could sleep on beds and outright destroy the furniture if they weren't properly trained. AND the team still managed to introduce a life form that was totally new to the series.
Horses could be ridden all over the map, befriended, trained, groomed, and raced (though the races were text adventure style). IIRC, horses also came with a new career and aspiration. In addition, the horses were supported by obstacle course objects, feeding troughs, barn stalls, salt plum and a ball object. The training was not purposeless. It could be used to win competitions. Oh, and horses came with a host of new build objects to help players to create a believable horse barn.
For giggles, the team threw in an elusive unicorn and dogs could hunt for items anywhere -- not through a buy/debug object that is always in the same place, they could hunt anywhere. Hunting was a proper skill that could be seen. You could also see if your dog was hungry, or tired, or lonely, or about to pass away from old age.
All of that was accomplished while still giving the fans something new. So, what, exactly, is TS4's issue?
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
Yep. And everything is excuses, excuses, excuses: it's too hard, it will take too long, it will be too expensive. The latest thing is: "we wanted to try something new." That excuse being used to explain why Cats & Dogs was released as a purposely empty shell. A shell that was meant to be filled with subsequent SPs and GPs. My First Pet Stuff was clearly in development at the same times as the EP that it should have been included in.
To give a bit of perspective:
TS3 came with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and snakes. Plus, cats and dogs had proper beds (not rugs), outdoor houses, and a variety of toys to play with (other than 5,000 different balls). Pets could sleep on beds and outright destroy the furniture if they weren't properly trained. AND the team still managed to introduce a life form that was totally new to the series.
Horses could be ridden all over the map, befriended, trained, groomed, and raced (though the races were text adventure style). IIRC, horses also came with a new career and aspiration. In addition, the horses were supported by obstacle course objects, feeding troughs, barn stalls, salt plum and a ball object. The training was not purposeless. It could be used to win competitions. Oh, and horses came with a host of new build objects to help players to create a believable horse barn.
For giggles, the team threw in an elusive unicorn and dogs could hunt for items anywhere -- not through a buy/debug object that is always in the same place, they could hunt anywhere. Hunting was a proper skill that could be seen. You could also see if your dog was hungry, or tired, or lonely, or about to pass away from old age.
All of that was accomplished while still giving the fans something new. So, what, exactly, is TS4's issue?
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
Completely agree. Glad to see I'm not the only one takes issue with the claim that the Cats and Dogs were more fleshed out. They weren't. I haven't seen a single major thing they can do that pets from 1-3 couldn't, infact I certainly can see things they can't that were in 1-3. You can't even click on them! I think that's absolutely awful. I genuiely can't believe that they apparently left other things out to flesh out the cats and dogs because they certainly haven't been, or that they believed they were doing so. I think it's an excuse because they didn't have the budget or resources to make a pets pack as good as the first three, or that they're intending to sell it all back to us (which is actually now happening).
For me, I did vote 4 for this game but I'm going to have to lower it to 3 after this latest debacle, because shameless cash grabbing really lowers the tone.
Stuff like, open worlds, improved personality system, world editor, CASt, terrain tools, pond tools, ETC will all require a rewrite.
The game's design is totally rigid.
I didn't ask for any of the things that you've mentioned, except for an improved personality. That is something that I believe is still possible. The foundation has already been laid. All that's required is better implementation.
But others did, and the personality system is tied to emotions, which is tied to moodlets, which is tied to the environment, ETC... That's why they don't really change it much, few new traits, no new emotions.
To truly add personality, they'd need to rewrite the entire system.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
Yep. And everything is excuses, excuses, excuses: it's too hard, it will take too long, it will be too expensive. The latest thing is: "we wanted to try something new." That excuse being used to explain why Cats & Dogs was released as a purposely empty shell. A shell that was meant to be filled with subsequent SPs and GPs. My First Pet Stuff was clearly in development at the same times as the EP that it should have been included in.
To give a bit of perspective:
TS3 came with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and snakes. Plus, cats and dogs had proper beds (not rugs), outdoor houses, and a variety of toys to play with (other than 5,000 different balls). Pets could sleep on beds and outright destroy the furniture if they weren't properly trained. AND the team still managed to introduce a life form that was totally new to the series.
Horses could be ridden all over the map, befriended, trained, groomed, and raced (though the races were text adventure style). IIRC, horses also came with a new career and aspiration. In addition, the horses were supported by obstacle course objects, feeding troughs, barn stalls, salt plum and a ball object. The training was not purposeless. It could be used to win competitions. Oh, and horses came with a host of new build objects to help players to create a believable horse barn.
For giggles, the team threw in an elusive unicorn and dogs could hunt for items anywhere -- not through a buy/debug object that is always in the same place, they could hunt anywhere. Hunting was a proper skill that could be seen. You could also see if your dog was hungry, or tired, or lonely, or about to pass away from old age.
All of that was accomplished while still giving the fans something new. So, what, exactly, is TS4's issue?
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
This.
I think they are counting on people oohing and ahhhing over the world and not noticing the limitations, I suspect many don't care just as long as people can say: "It's sooooo beautiful!!"
I'm not denying it's pretty.
But beauty isn't a substitute for substance.
I can't argue about cats and dogs as I think the same.
The game has very strong points for stability, animations, voices, graphics, CAS and music. It's still entertaining to me, but something's amiss, I get bored too quickly. I could name a few things that made this a semi-flop : no open world, no possibility to build apartments, low poly furniture, very limited world customization, too utopian, bland expansions, slow development, high cost involved in making the game interesting, some game breaking bugs, limited career choices and boring style to name a few.
This is a very succinct description of the game. And, from my point of view, it's also incredibly accurate. I keep waiting for that one pack to come along that changes my mind. It's a good thing that I haven't been holding my breath. After the Cats & Dogs expansion, expansion, it's probably time to admit defeat and to just move on.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
for me,
it feels like they are turning packs into nothing more than large glorified stuff packs at times.
some pretty boring new gameplay items.
I mean look at the difference the sims 3 pets and cats&dogs
and some of the other packs.
no caged animals at all for a vet career
no horses
the base game was just the start of missing features, because it continues with game packs and expansion packs.
The game has very strong points for stability, animations, voices, graphics, CAS and music. It's still entertaining to me, but something's amiss, I get bored too quickly. I could name a few things that made this a semi-flop : no open world, no possibility to build apartments, low poly furniture, very limited world customization, too utopian, bland expansions, slow development, high cost involved in making the game interesting, some game breaking bugs, limited career choices and boring style to name a few.
This is a very succinct description of the game. And, from my point of view, it's also incredibly accurate. I keep waiting for that one pack to come along that changes my mind. It's a good thing that I haven't been holding my breath. After the Cats & Dogs expansion, expansion, it's probably time to admit defeat and to just move on.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
for me,
it feels like they are turning packs into nothing more than large glorified stuff packs at times.
some pretty boring new gameplay items.
I mean look at the difference the sims 3 pets and cats&dogs
and some of the other packs.
no caged animals at all for a vet career
no horses
the base game was just the start of missing features, because it continues with game packs and expansion packs.
For me to see EA has made the changes for the following reasons:
1. EA wanted TS4 to be as different from TS2 and TS3 as possible such that as many veteran simmers as possible would buy TS4 too and such that EA still could sell TS3 and its many packs and store content too. EA hasn’t even reduced the Sims 3 prices Band likely because EA doesn’t want new simmers to buy TS3 and its packs instead of buying TS4. (EA would instead of course like new simmers to buy both games.)
2. It was EA’s experience that cheap packs (and even SPs) sell better than more expensive packs. Therefore EA wanted to replace some of the EPs for TS4 with smaller GPs and SPs. This even made it possible to make packs with the same sales value as earlier by using fewer developers. (EA therefore didn’t need the Salt Lake City studio anymore.)
3. EA didn’t want to “repeat” many of the Sims 3 packs by making them for TS4 too because people could just play TS3 too if they missed those packs. Therefore EA instead wanted some new content for TS4.
There may be even more to it. But this is how I feel.
The game has very strong points for stability, animations, voices, graphics, CAS and music. It's still entertaining to me, but something's amiss, I get bored too quickly. I could name a few things that made this a semi-flop : no open world, no possibility to build apartments, low poly furniture, very limited world customization, too utopian, bland expansions, slow development, high cost involved in making the game interesting, some game breaking bugs, limited career choices and boring style to name a few.
This is a very succinct description of the game. And, from my point of view, it's also incredibly accurate. I keep waiting for that one pack to come along that changes my mind. It's a good thing that I haven't been holding my breath. After the Cats & Dogs expansion, expansion, it's probably time to admit defeat and to just move on.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
for me,
it feels like they are turning packs into nothing more than large glorified stuff packs at times.
some pretty boring new gameplay items.
I mean look at the difference the sims 3 pets and cats&dogs
and some of the other packs.
no caged animals at all for a vet career
no horses
the base game was just the start of missing features, because it continues with game packs and expansion packs.
Totally agree.
And what bugs me is that they say they sacrificed everything else for the vet career. I mean as it's basically the retail system and the doctor career recycled, it really can't have been that hard to do or that time consuming in the grand scheme of things. It just doesn't add up to me. I'm absolutely certain that the ease of creating it is the only reason we have it. Had they have had to create a whole new system and coding from scratch, they wouldn't have done it. It wouldn't surprise me if, at the first staff meeting for this pack, the biggest item on the agenda was "how can we make this EP as cheaply and quickly as possible", because it certainly feels like they did that. If not that then I'm sure the EA execs told them to do it like that. It just infuriates me that it is like it is, especially as you just said, when you look at the Sims 3 pets and all the stuff we got.
Yeah you're totally right about the base game. You know I'm totally kicking myself now for giving this game a chance when it came out. I thought it was just a fluke that it was so empty and buggy and that it wasn't deliberate, and that all the new content we were going to get would make it alright (and I mean you can't blame ourselves for thinking that when you look at what 1-3 offered in terms of content). I should've seen it coming really.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
Yep. And everything is excuses, excuses, excuses: it's too hard, it will take too long, it will be too expensive. The latest thing is: "we wanted to try something new." That excuse being used to explain why Cats & Dogs was released as a purposely empty shell. A shell that was meant to be filled with subsequent SPs and GPs. My First Pet Stuff was clearly in development at the same times as the EP that it should have been included in.
To give a bit of perspective:
TS3 came with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and snakes. Plus, cats and dogs had proper beds (not rugs), outdoor houses, and a variety of toys to play with (other than 5,000 different balls). Pets could sleep on beds and outright destroy the furniture if they weren't properly trained. AND the team still managed to introduce a life form that was totally new to the series.
Horses could be ridden all over the map, befriended, trained, groomed, and raced (though the races were text adventure style). IIRC, horses also came with a new career and aspiration. In addition, the horses were supported by obstacle course objects, feeding troughs, barn stalls, salt plum and a ball object. The training was not purposeless. It could be used to win competitions. Oh, and horses came with a host of new build objects to help players to create a believable horse barn.
For giggles, the team threw in an elusive unicorn and dogs could hunt for items anywhere -- not through a buy/debug object that is always in the same place, they could hunt anywhere. Hunting was a proper skill that could be seen. You could also see if your dog was hungry, or tired, or lonely, or about to pass away from old age.
All of that was accomplished while still giving the fans something new. So, what, exactly, is TS4's issue?
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
This.
I think they are counting on people oohing and ahhhing over the world and not noticing the limitations, I suspect many don't care just as long as people can say: "It's sooooo beautiful!!"
I'm not denying it's pretty.
But beauty isn't a substitute for substance.
I can't argue about cats and dogs as I think the same.
Ever since Adventures I know how that works. That world is so amazing, it’s bedazzling. For me it felt like a brick wall when it hit me I had reached the end (even before reaching it, I haven’t done everything but I know there won’t be any surprises anymore). It would be interesting to see what things would play like if someone could simulate the actual gameplay of all the versions in a similar, basic style. So completely leaving out all the bells and whistles. And maybe that should be a starting point for the devs as well. Less focus on the picture, more focus on the game.
Ever since Adventures I know how that works. That world is so amazing, it’s bedazzling. For me it felt like a brick wall when it hit me I had reached the end (even before reaching it, I haven’t done everything but I know there won’t be any surprises anymore). It would be interesting to see what things would play like if someone could simulate the actual gameplay of all the versions in a similar, basic style. So completely leaving out all the bells and whistles. And maybe that should be a starting point for the devs as well. Less focus on the picture, more focus on the game.
Or, maybe they can do like S2 and S3 and concentrate on both? Like, go nuts and give us the complete package.
Mind you, they wouldn't have had this question of style over substance if they had built a game that allowed players to edit and to create worlds of their own.
Ever since Adventures I know how that works. That world is so amazing, it’s bedazzling. For me it felt like a brick wall when it hit me I had reached the end (even before reaching it, I haven’t done everything but I know there won’t be any surprises anymore). It would be interesting to see what things would play like if someone could simulate the actual gameplay of all the versions in a similar, basic style. So completely leaving out all the bells and whistles. And maybe that should be a starting point for the devs as well. Less focus on the picture, more focus on the game.
Or, maybe they can do like S2 and S3 and concentrate on both? Like, go nuts and give us the complete package.
Mind you, they wouldn't have had this question of style over substance if they had built a game that allowed players to edit and to create worlds of their own.
Sure, the picture is important to me as well. But it seems to me both devs and current players could use a little less of that at the moment.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
Yep. And everything is excuses, excuses, excuses: it's too hard, it will take too long, it will be too expensive. The latest thing is: "we wanted to try something new." That excuse being used to explain why Cats & Dogs was released as a purposely empty shell. A shell that was meant to be filled with subsequent SPs and GPs. My First Pet Stuff was clearly in development at the same times as the EP that it should have been included in.
To give a bit of perspective:
TS3 came with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and snakes. Plus, cats and dogs had proper beds (not rugs), outdoor houses, and a variety of toys to play with (other than 5,000 different balls). Pets could sleep on beds and outright destroy the furniture if they weren't properly trained. AND the team still managed to introduce a life form that was totally new to the series.
Horses could be ridden all over the map, befriended, trained, groomed, and raced (though the races were text adventure style). IIRC, horses also came with a new career and aspiration. In addition, the horses were supported by obstacle course objects, feeding troughs, barn stalls, salt plum and a ball object. The training was not purposeless. It could be used to win competitions. Oh, and horses came with a host of new build objects to help players to create a believable horse barn.
For giggles, the team threw in an elusive unicorn and dogs could hunt for items anywhere -- not through a buy/debug object that is always in the same place, they could hunt anywhere. Hunting was a proper skill that could be seen. You could also see if your dog was hungry, or tired, or lonely, or about to pass away from old age.
All of that was accomplished while still giving the fans something new. So, what, exactly, is TS4's issue?
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
This.
I think they are counting on people oohing and ahhhing over the world and not noticing the limitations, I suspect many don't care just as long as people can say: "It's sooooo beautiful!!"
I'm not denying it's pretty.
But beauty isn't a substitute for substance.
I can't argue about cats and dogs as I think the same.
Ever since Adventures I know how that works. That world is so amazing, it’s bedazzling. For me it felt like a brick wall when it hit me I had reached the end (even before reaching it, I haven’t done everything but I know there won’t be any surprises anymore). It would be interesting to see what things would play like if someone could simulate the actual gameplay of all the versions in a similar, basic style. So completely leaving out all the bells and whistles. And maybe that should be a starting point for the devs as well. Less focus on the picture, more focus on the game.
Couldn't agree more.
Yes the worlds do look great, but less backdrops and more gameplay please.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
Yep. And everything is excuses, excuses, excuses: it's too hard, it will take too long, it will be too expensive. The latest thing is: "we wanted to try something new." That excuse being used to explain why Cats & Dogs was released as a purposely empty shell. A shell that was meant to be filled with subsequent SPs and GPs. My First Pet Stuff was clearly in development at the same times as the EP that it should have been included in.
To give a bit of perspective:
TS3 came with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and snakes. Plus, cats and dogs had proper beds (not rugs), outdoor houses, and a variety of toys to play with (other than 5,000 different balls). Pets could sleep on beds and outright destroy the furniture if they weren't properly trained. AND the team still managed to introduce a life form that was totally new to the series.
Horses could be ridden all over the map, befriended, trained, groomed, and raced (though the races were text adventure style). IIRC, horses also came with a new career and aspiration. In addition, the horses were supported by obstacle course objects, feeding troughs, barn stalls, salt plum and a ball object. The training was not purposeless. It could be used to win competitions. Oh, and horses came with a host of new build objects to help players to create a believable horse barn.
For giggles, the team threw in an elusive unicorn and dogs could hunt for items anywhere -- not through a buy/debug object that is always in the same place, they could hunt anywhere. Hunting was a proper skill that could be seen. You could also see if your dog was hungry, or tired, or lonely, or about to pass away from old age.
All of that was accomplished while still giving the fans something new. So, what, exactly, is TS4's issue?
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
You're absolutely right.
I notice it so much when I play. I do use mods like MCCC and with that mod comes notifications for last exceptions. Upon looking into it (with all my mods updated) There are issues with the pets themselves. I can't even have pets in my household without getting a last exception notice every few minutes of gameplay and low and behold when I take my last exception to Discord I'm told it has to do with the pet themselves and nothing to do with the mods I put in my game. Heck even when removing my mods and playing vanilla I have the same issues. And don't get me started on the issues with the vet clinic. My current household owns a clinic and there are okay days with few bugs I can handle, though still annoying, and then there are, "OMG what the heck is going on", days. Never an in between. I have taken mods completely out before, repaired and ever reinstalled my game! but its just a faulty system.
I agree that the main focus was how beautiful Brindleton Bay is. Just as the sims don't have much depth to them, cats and dogs have been added to the bunch as well as the vet career and that was the biggest reason I bought the pack. The vet career! Don't get me wrong I am an animal lover as well, but it was icing on the cake when I found out about the career. Before I saw the stream I was excited and hyped about it, then came the disappointment on how it was basically a mixture of the medical career and owning a retail store in GTW as well as Owning a restaurant in Dine out (which is a headache and I have not attempted to do so in a long time). Basically a mixture of an already faulty system.
"Bada su the gorn bada su the brawn bada bady oda aba donk donk donk gerbits gerbits vo gerbits".
See, I kind of have no choice but to play TS4. It's this iteration or barely any sims at all because I travel a lot and can't bring my gaming PC with me. TS4 is the only one that runs smoothly on the laptop I carry, so even though I hated this game at first I eventually grew to like it for what it is and developed a strange love/hate relationship with it. Playing it still relaxes me. I can get my simming fix from it, learned my way around all the limitations (mods are a great help here of course) but I'm still brutally honest - it's not a good game. And after C&D came out, I realized it'll never change, sadly.
They say you can't build a proper house on a faulty foundation and TS4 proves it to be true.This game's entire story is trying to heal an open wound just covering it with band aids. Layers and layers of band aids that make the wound visually disappear but you know it's still there and is slowly rotting underneath.
I was considering a 5, but then I realized it would be too much because of one major problem I have with TS4, and that's how it needs your imagination to be playable. Now what I mean with this is - previous iterations would FUEL your imagination. They made it bloom, inspired you to come up with absorbing scenarios and backstories and all that jazz. Everything would go smoothly and naturally because that game had so much personality you didn't have to force yourself to play out stories - stories would just happen! On the contrary with TS4 you have to twist your imagination so much it's almost like a mental work out of some sort because the game on its own gives you nothing. Stuff don't happen - you have to pretend they do. And that's why in my opinion it doesn't even deserve a 5, but a mere 4.
Are there improvements from older sim games? Yes. Are they significant enough to be taken into consideration when rating? No. I judge the whole picture.
A sim game that doesn't inspire and immerse the player is a failed game.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
Yep. And everything is excuses, excuses, excuses: it's too hard, it will take too long, it will be too expensive. The latest thing is: "we wanted to try something new." That excuse being used to explain why Cats & Dogs was released as a purposely empty shell. A shell that was meant to be filled with subsequent SPs and GPs. My First Pet Stuff was clearly in development at the same times as the EP that it should have been included in.
To give a bit of perspective:
TS3 came with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and snakes. Plus, cats and dogs had proper beds (not rugs), outdoor houses, and a variety of toys to play with (other than 5,000 different balls). Pets could sleep on beds and outright destroy the furniture if they weren't properly trained. AND the team still managed to introduce a life form that was totally new to the series.
Horses could be ridden all over the map, befriended, trained, groomed, and raced (though the races were text adventure style). IIRC, horses also came with a new career and aspiration. In addition, the horses were supported by obstacle course objects, feeding troughs, barn stalls, salt plum and a ball object. The training was not purposeless. It could be used to win competitions. Oh, and horses came with a host of new build objects to help players to create a believable horse barn.
For giggles, the team threw in an elusive unicorn and dogs could hunt for items anywhere -- not through a buy/debug object that is always in the same place, they could hunt anywhere. Hunting was a proper skill that could be seen. You could also see if your dog was hungry, or tired, or lonely, or about to pass away from old age.
All of that was accomplished while still giving the fans something new. So, what, exactly, is TS4's issue?
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
You're absolutely right.
I notice it so much when I play. I do use mods like MCCC and with that mod comes notifications for last exceptions. Upon looking into it (with all my mods updated) There are issues with the pets themselves. I can't even have pets in my household without getting a last exception notice every few minutes of gameplay and low and behold when I take my last exception to Discord I'm told it has to do with the pet themselves and nothing to do with the mods I put in my game. Heck even when removing my mods and playing vanilla I have the same issues. And don't get me started on the issues with the vet clinic. My current household owns a clinic and there are okay days with few bugs I can handle, though still annoying, and then there are, "OMG what the heck is going on", days. Never an in between. I have taken mods completely out before, repaired and ever reinstalled my game! but its just a faulty system.
I agree that the main focus was how beautiful Brindleton Bay is. Just as the sims don't have much depth to them, cats and dogs have been added to the bunch as well as the vet career and that was the biggest reason I bought the pack. The vet career! Don't get me wrong I am an animal lover as well, but it was icing on the cake when I found out about the career. Before I saw the stream I was excited and hyped about it, then came the disappointment on how it was basically a mixture of the medical career and owning a retail store in GTW as well as Owning a restaurant in Dine out (which is a headache and I have not attempted to do so in a long time). Basically a mixture of an already faulty system.
I have been getting constant LE reports (I have MCCC as well) and with my game being relatively mod free on the system I’m using I was wondering if it was EA content that was causing the errors. Good to know my hunch was in the right direction! Wish I could say I was surprised that Cats and Dogs have issues, but sadly that doesn’t surprise me in Sims 4.
I voted 6 out of 10. Mostly for so much recycled and less detailed interactions.
Seeing the decline in detail is really disappointing. I used to be so impressed how much detail went into things like food making and social interactions. In sims 2 and sims 3 when making food the ingredients displayed really matched what you were making. It was very detailed. In sims 4 everything is mixed as a liquid in a bowl. No matter what you make, a lot of it looks exactly the same. Recycled ingredients, recycled movements.
Same with interactions. Has anyone noticed how different interactions will produce the same exact response and body movements? They say the same three lines over and over again and produce the same body language. Recycled social interactions.
Overall less detail with everything. They don't interact with stuff anymore. In previous sims when you click on a dresser to get changed, they at least opened a drawer first. They interacted. Now they just stand in front of it and twirl. Why even have the dresser? They interacted with cars before leaving, even in sims 2. I've seen them open drawers when making food. They used to be able to actually look out windows. They picked up soap and added it to washers, and added dryer sheets to dryers when doing laundry. There's just so much detail lost that makes it so pleasing to play and watch what the sims are doing. Those tiny details are so important.
Interactions with beds got severely downgraded. No cuddling, making out, reading, daydreaming, relaxing. Just sleeping and not even touching your lover at all while doing so. Interactions with radios don't allow you to dance with others in any real way.
The emotions thing really doesn't add much to the game.
Interactions with infants...(fart noise when making enemies from sims 3 here)
Unless you want to own a restaurant, you're out of luck to have your own business. I wish stores were more functional and that you could own and run more of them. Owning a clothing store...I don't get that. Just stack objects around for people to look at. Why can't I buy actual clothes from cas like in previous sims? I've had fun owning a bakery, but why can't I have real sims that I actually play work there? All the employees are also unknown npcs.
However I gave it a 6 because I was so impressed with the yoga and overall I really liked the spa pack, vampires and get together (although we were able to gather in groups in sims 3 without it costing extra.) I do like the way clubs work though. I enjoy how long they get to stay and it's entire system and functionality. I remember I was sad when yoga was taken out of sims 3 because it was in sims 2 it was just not nearly as detailed as now. I'm a yoga teacher though, so, of course, I liked it.
I also love dining out with my sims and I think it works good too. I enjoy gathering family to a meal out. Very nice addition. And love the ease of adding content to my game from the gallery.
I've heard people complain about the multitasking, but I found it such a relief to have it, even if it doesn't work with everything. Like why can't I drink coffee and play on the computer or call someone?
Also, CAS functions so much better in regards to shoes and hats and body proportions. I do miss the color wheel, but it doesn't make me upset to the point of knocking off points for it.
Ever since Adventures I know how that works. That world is so amazing, it’s bedazzling. For me it felt like a brick wall when it hit me I had reached the end (even before reaching it, I haven’t done everything but I know there won’t be any surprises anymore). It would be interesting to see what things would play like if someone could simulate the actual gameplay of all the versions in a similar, basic style. So completely leaving out all the bells and whistles. And maybe that should be a starting point for the devs as well. Less focus on the picture, more focus on the game.
Or, maybe they can do like S2 and S3 and concentrate on both? Like, go nuts and give us the complete package.
Mind you, they wouldn't have had this question of style over substance if they had built a game that allowed players to edit and to create worlds of their own.
This.
I don't get why it's so much to ask for gameplay full of depth in a well-designed world. They're backdrops anyway. I never understood why they would use worlds in TS4 as a selling point, if all throughout the promotion of the base game, they preached it was now about Sims and lots over worlds.
I'm extremely close to that point myself. The game had a horrible launch with missing features, delayed base game content, and lack of communication. The one way it was to improve was through the packs, however, they are dropping the ball with virtually every one of them.
Yep. And everything is excuses, excuses, excuses: it's too hard, it will take too long, it will be too expensive. The latest thing is: "we wanted to try something new." That excuse being used to explain why Cats & Dogs was released as a purposely empty shell. A shell that was meant to be filled with subsequent SPs and GPs. My First Pet Stuff was clearly in development at the same times as the EP that it should have been included in.
To give a bit of perspective:
TS3 came with cats, dogs, birds, rodents, and snakes. Plus, cats and dogs had proper beds (not rugs), outdoor houses, and a variety of toys to play with (other than 5,000 different balls). Pets could sleep on beds and outright destroy the furniture if they weren't properly trained. AND the team still managed to introduce a life form that was totally new to the series.
Horses could be ridden all over the map, befriended, trained, groomed, and raced (though the races were text adventure style). IIRC, horses also came with a new career and aspiration. In addition, the horses were supported by obstacle course objects, feeding troughs, barn stalls, salt plum and a ball object. The training was not purposeless. It could be used to win competitions. Oh, and horses came with a host of new build objects to help players to create a believable horse barn.
For giggles, the team threw in an elusive unicorn and dogs could hunt for items anywhere -- not through a buy/debug object that is always in the same place, they could hunt anywhere. Hunting was a proper skill that could be seen. You could also see if your dog was hungry, or tired, or lonely, or about to pass away from old age.
All of that was accomplished while still giving the fans something new. So, what, exactly, is TS4's issue?
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
You're absolutely right.
I notice it so much when I play. I do use mods like MCCC and with that mod comes notifications for last exceptions. Upon looking into it (with all my mods updated) There are issues with the pets themselves. I can't even have pets in my household without getting a last exception notice every few minutes of gameplay and low and behold when I take my last exception to Discord I'm told it has to do with the pet themselves and nothing to do with the mods I put in my game. Heck even when removing my mods and playing vanilla I have the same issues. And don't get me started on the issues with the vet clinic. My current household owns a clinic and there are okay days with few bugs I can handle, though still annoying, and then there are, "OMG what the heck is going on", days. Never an in between. I have taken mods completely out before, repaired and ever reinstalled my game! but its just a faulty system.
I agree that the main focus was how beautiful Brindleton Bay is. Just as the sims don't have much depth to them, cats and dogs have been added to the bunch as well as the vet career and that was the biggest reason I bought the pack. The vet career! Don't get me wrong I am an animal lover as well, but it was icing on the cake when I found out about the career. Before I saw the stream I was excited and hyped about it, then came the disappointment on how it was basically a mixture of the medical career and owning a retail store in GTW as well as Owning a restaurant in Dine out (which is a headache and I have not attempted to do so in a long time). Basically a mixture of an already faulty system.
I have been getting constant LE reports (I have MCCC as well) and with my game being relatively mod free on the system I’m using I was wondering if it was EA content that was causing the errors. Good to know my hunch was in the right direction! Wish I could say I was surprised that Cats and Dogs have issues, but sadly that doesn’t surprise me in Sims 4.
I can guarantee that Cats and Dogs is not giving you the errors. I was getting le reports and decided to get rid of every last piece of cc and mods besides mcc and the last exceptions went away. I have every pack.
I give the Sims 4 a 4 out of 10. Mostly for all the cons previous players have stated both in this forum and since the game's release. Yes, the Sims 4 did introduce some new features but at the cost of throwing out players' favorite features, constant bug/glitches that are never patched, lack of content that requires players to buy more DLC, My First Pet Stuff looking at you!, and how quickly the game gets boring.
I'm a rotational player so I like going back and playing the Sims 2, Sims 3, the Sims Stories series, and the Sims Medieval as well as other games. However, I only ever find myself playing the Sims 4 for less than an hour while with other games I'll play consistently for a few days. Like I'll open the Sims 4, look at the title screen, load a save, then... I end up closing it and going to play a different game. As a Sims player, that's disappointing. When I play the Sims 2 I get nostalgic and start thinking up stories to play. When I play the sims 3 I look up challenges to complete (right now I'm doing the Not So Berry Challenge).
But playing the Sims 4 is painful now. Like I applaud the Simmers on Youtube that make let's plays for it. But I give the most respect to Simmers who come out and say they are also getting bored with the game and want to play something else. Like I can't tell you how excited I was when the SimSupply made a joke Video for the Sims 5 (I thought it was finally happening but it was just him trolling). I'm now at the point with the Sims 4 where I'm ready for something else and the sad part is the generation isn't even over yet. When The Sims 3 rolled around I was both excited and sad, I still think there is so much potential for the Sims 2. And when the Sims 4 rolled around I felt the same.
Now I kind of want the game to hurry up and end so the Sims 5 can restore my faith in the Sims Team. Like bring back team members from the Sims 2 and Sims 3, create bigger crews for EPs and SPs, and try to listen to the actual players who are buying the game as I think we have a good idea on what we want to see.
I voted 6 out of 10. Mostly for so much recycled and less detailed interactions.
Seeing the decline in detail is really disappointing. I used to be so impressed how much detail went into things like food making and social interactions. In sims 2 and sims 3 when making food the ingredients displayed really matched what you were making. It was very detailed. In sims 4 everything is mixed as a liquid in a bowl. No matter what you make, a lot of it looks exactly the same. Recycled ingredients, recycled movements.
Same with interactions. Has anyone noticed how different interactions will produce the same exact response and body movements? They say the same three lines over and over again and produce the same body language. Recycled social interactions.
Overall less detail with everything. They don't interact with stuff anymore. In previous sims when you click on a dresser to get changed, they at least opened a drawer first. They interacted. Now they just stand in front of it and twirl. Why even have the dresser? They interacted with cars before leaving, even in sims 2. I've seen them open drawers when making food. They used to be able to actually look out windows. They picked up soap and added it to washers, and added dryer sheets to dryers when doing laundry. There's just so much detail lost that makes it so pleasing to play and watch what the sims are doing. Those tiny details are so important.
Interactions with beds got severely downgraded. No cuddling, making out, reading, daydreaming, relaxing. Just sleeping and not even touching your lover at all while doing so. Interactions with radios don't allow you to dance with others in any real way.
The emotions thing really doesn't add much to the game.
Interactions with infants...(fart noise when making enemies from sims 3 here)
Unless you want to own a restaurant, you're out of luck to have your own business. I wish stores were more functional and that you could own and run more of them. Owning a clothing store...I don't get that. Just stack objects around for people to look at. Why can't I buy actual clothes from cas like in previous sims? I've had fun owning a bakery, but why can't I have real sims that I actually play work there? All the employees are also unknown npcs.
However I gave it a 6 because I was so impressed with the yoga and overall I really liked the spa pack, vampires and get together (although we were able to gather in groups in sims 3 without it costing extra.) I do like the way clubs work though. I enjoy how long they get to stay and it's entire system and functionality. I remember I was sad when yoga was taken out of sims 3 because it was in sims 2 it was just not nearly as detailed as now. I'm a yoga teacher though, so, of course, I liked it.
I also love dining out with my sims and I think it works good too. I enjoy gathering family to a meal out. Very nice addition. And love the ease of adding content to my game from the gallery.
I've heard people complain about the multitasking, but I found it such a relief to have it, even if it doesn't work with everything. Like why can't I drink coffee and play on the computer or call someone?
Also, CAS functions so much better in regards to shoes and hats and body proportions. I do miss the color wheel, but it doesn't make me upset to the point of knocking off points for it.
I've given the game a 7/10 because I do really enjoy the game. I think that's mainly because i've played it for far less time that most players. I do enjoy the game and compared to TS3 I have alot less issues with gameplay. Don't get me wrong I don't think TS4 is perfect.
I agree with alot of others that there are things that are missing in the game that makes it feel emptier that TS3. I really want university or a fame based game pack. There is alot of potential in TS4 yet and I would be really said if this iteration will come to an end with what we have so far. I'd like seasons too but i'm less fussed on that because at this point i'd like more gameplay features added to round the game out. Also somewhere tropical to live in would be awesome.
I would rate it 7/10, from elementary things to more:
1 - graphics art (nature, sims, houses)
2 - building (something missing)
3 - CAS
4, 5 - emotions, animations
6, 7 - toddlers, parenthood, pets (interactions with NPC pets are needed), clubs, go to work, seasons, all building tools (stairs, roofs, separate foundations, etc).
8 - randomness: sims behavior (like/dislike/refuse some sims, do something hilarious), dangerous situations that can lead to death but with possibility to save sim/pet, wild animals (sweet or attack, invade houses randomly, pets befriend/fight with them), burglars and pets chasing them...
9 - perfect multitask, fluid sims (a lot of animations, especially small animations, no idle conversations)
10 - no bugs
Or, maybe they can do like S2 and S3 and concentrate on both? Like, go nuts and give us the complete package.
Mind you, they wouldn't have had this question of style over substance if they had built a game that allowed players to edit and to create worlds of their own.
This.
I don't get why it's so much to ask for gameplay full of depth in a well-designed world. They're backdrops anyway. I never understood why they would use worlds in TS4 as a selling point, if all throughout the promotion of the base game, they preached it was now about Sims and lots over worlds.
When TS4 was first marketed, it seemed that the majority of it was focused on the Sims. Now, it seems as if marketing has dropped that particular...fib (Smarter Sims, weirder stories) and they're concentrating more on: Look! Shiiiiiiny!
The worlds appear to get most of the focus and the budget. The game play? Meh. The animations? Bupkis. We've got Sims who bite ice cream cones and when they eat berries off the trees, they put an imaginary plate or glass down onto an imaginary counter or table.
It's really so shady now.
I've been trying to support this game. I've bought everything up to now, even against my better judgement. Because I love CC and, sometimes, the CC that I want requires a particular pack. However, this week, I made a stand and said no more. I didn't buy the $10 rodent and I'm not buying another thing unless I feel that some real passion and detail was put into it. I will no longer support recycled animations, recycled CAS assets, repetitive objects, and catalogs padded with things that could have easily been counted as a single object. I'm looking at you, MFPS hamster cage! The same dang object, duplicated, given a slight recolor, then marketed as if it's something different.
Seasons is the last big thing that I'm waiting on in order to determine whether or not TS4 is worthy of any additional investment. If they manage to screw that up, oh well. As they say: it's been real and it's been nice. But it ain't been real nice.
I doubt that they'd miss a player like me, anyway. I'm not who they're targeting nowadays. Consumers like me are fast becoming obsolete, I guess. ::shrug::
Well I’m not sure your guarantee is entirely correct. The machine I was getting the LE errors on was also mod free aside from MCCC. I have every EP/GP as well, and get LE errors a lot in households that have pets (moreso than for those without pets). I also get them a lot in retail stores, and restaurants.
At this point, I don't think that anyone should be swearing by anything that EA is putting out for TS4.
For example, there are more than a few people complaining about the bug that came with the latest patch/pack. Objects in apartments have been disappearing in games that are completely un-modded.
EA is aware of it. Meanwhile, to my knowledge, no official announcement has been made in order to warn paying customers how to protect their saves until the error can be corrected. Perhaps, EA did so on Twitter. However, I'm generally allergic to IM - style social media. So, who knows.
Perhaps, enough of us don't play apartments to make it matter very much. Again, who knows.
Or, maybe they can do like S2 and S3 and concentrate on both? Like, go nuts and give us the complete package.
Mind you, they wouldn't have had this question of style over substance if they had built a game that allowed players to edit and to create worlds of their own.
This.
I don't get why it's so much to ask for gameplay full of depth in a well-designed world. They're backdrops anyway. I never understood why they would use worlds in TS4 as a selling point, if all throughout the promotion of the base game, they preached it was now about Sims and lots over worlds.
When TS4 was first marketed, it seemed that the majority of it was focused on the Sims. Now, it seems as if marketing has dropped that particular...fib (Smarter Sims, weirder stories) and they're concentrating more on: Look! Shiiiiiiny!
The worlds appear to get most of the focus and the budget. The game play? Meh. The animations? Bupkis. We've got Sims who bite ice cream cones and when they eat berries off the trees, they put an imaginary plate or glass down onto an imaginary counter or table.
It's really so shady now.
I've been trying to support this game. I've bought everything up to now, even against my better judgement. Because I love CC and, sometimes, the CC that I want requires a particular pack. However, this week, I made a stand and said no more. I didn't buy the $10 rodent and I'm not buying another thing unless I feel that some real passion and detail was put into it. I will no longer support recycled animations, recycled CAS assets, repetitive objects, and catalogs padded with things that could have easily been counted as a single object. I'm looking at you, MFPS hamster cage! The same dang object, duplicated, given a slight recolor, then marketed as if it's something different.
Seasons is the last big thing that I'm waiting on in order to determine whether or not TS4 is worthy of any additional investment. If they manage to screw that up, oh well. As they say: it's been real and it's been nice. But it ain't been real nice.
I doubt that they'd miss a player like me, anyway. I'm not who they're targeting nowadays. Consumers like me are fast becoming obsolete, I guess. ::shrug::
This is how I feel as well. Seasons is the only thing I have hopes for but then again not really if that makes sense. They've just really put their foot in their mouth with what's been going on. Especially with the sims themselves. Ive been playing 2 a lot lately and it amazes me that a game that was made so long ago shows more personality to the sims themselves in a game made so recently. It baffles me everytime.
"Bada su the gorn bada su the brawn bada bady oda aba donk donk donk gerbits gerbits vo gerbits".
Comments
The teams primarily focus was Brindleton Bay. Similar to City Living, they figured it didn’t matter if the actual gameplay was lacking, recycled, or nonexistent - so long as there was a heavily decorated backdrop they could put the pets in front of to make their trailers look good.
Cats and Dogs is their worst attempt at pets yet. The two pets we got aren’t even as functional as they were before, and that’s basically where it all ends. They didn’t focus on Cats and Dogs this go around, I know they love saying that but they didn’t, and should be embarrassed to continue to make that claim.
Completely agree. Glad to see I'm not the only one takes issue with the claim that the Cats and Dogs were more fleshed out. They weren't. I haven't seen a single major thing they can do that pets from 1-3 couldn't, infact I certainly can see things they can't that were in 1-3. You can't even click on them! I think that's absolutely awful. I genuiely can't believe that they apparently left other things out to flesh out the cats and dogs because they certainly haven't been, or that they believed they were doing so. I think it's an excuse because they didn't have the budget or resources to make a pets pack as good as the first three, or that they're intending to sell it all back to us (which is actually now happening).
For me, I did vote 4 for this game but I'm going to have to lower it to 3 after this latest debacle, because shameless cash grabbing really lowers the tone.
But others did, and the personality system is tied to emotions, which is tied to moodlets, which is tied to the environment, ETC... That's why they don't really change it much, few new traits, no new emotions.
To truly add personality, they'd need to rewrite the entire system.
This.
I think they are counting on people oohing and ahhhing over the world and not noticing the limitations, I suspect many don't care just as long as people can say: "It's sooooo beautiful!!"
I'm not denying it's pretty.
But beauty isn't a substitute for substance.
I can't argue about cats and dogs as I think the same.
for me,
it feels like they are turning packs into nothing more than large glorified stuff packs at times.
some pretty boring new gameplay items.
I mean look at the difference the sims 3 pets and cats&dogs
and some of the other packs.
no caged animals at all for a vet career
no horses
the base game was just the start of missing features, because it continues with game packs and expansion packs.
1. EA wanted TS4 to be as different from TS2 and TS3 as possible such that as many veteran simmers as possible would buy TS4 too and such that EA still could sell TS3 and its many packs and store content too. EA hasn’t even reduced the Sims 3 prices Band likely because EA doesn’t want new simmers to buy TS3 and its packs instead of buying TS4. (EA would instead of course like new simmers to buy both games.)
2. It was EA’s experience that cheap packs (and even SPs) sell better than more expensive packs. Therefore EA wanted to replace some of the EPs for TS4 with smaller GPs and SPs. This even made it possible to make packs with the same sales value as earlier by using fewer developers. (EA therefore didn’t need the Salt Lake City studio anymore.)
3. EA didn’t want to “repeat” many of the Sims 3 packs by making them for TS4 too because people could just play TS3 too if they missed those packs. Therefore EA instead wanted some new content for TS4.
There may be even more to it. But this is how I feel.
Totally agree.
And what bugs me is that they say they sacrificed everything else for the vet career. I mean as it's basically the retail system and the doctor career recycled, it really can't have been that hard to do or that time consuming in the grand scheme of things. It just doesn't add up to me. I'm absolutely certain that the ease of creating it is the only reason we have it. Had they have had to create a whole new system and coding from scratch, they wouldn't have done it. It wouldn't surprise me if, at the first staff meeting for this pack, the biggest item on the agenda was "how can we make this EP as cheaply and quickly as possible", because it certainly feels like they did that. If not that then I'm sure the EA execs told them to do it like that. It just infuriates me that it is like it is, especially as you just said, when you look at the Sims 3 pets and all the stuff we got.
Yeah you're totally right about the base game. You know I'm totally kicking myself now for giving this game a chance when it came out. I thought it was just a fluke that it was so empty and buggy and that it wasn't deliberate, and that all the new content we were going to get would make it alright (and I mean you can't blame ourselves for thinking that when you look at what 1-3 offered in terms of content). I should've seen it coming really.
Next up on the agenda, charging people for nothing at all.
I see a marketing strategy in order to get ideas for a longer time, I mean 20 years of TS4 packs = 5 years of TS2/TS3 packs
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The Sims 4 General DiscussionOr, maybe they can do like S2 and S3 and concentrate on both? Like, go nuts and give us the complete package.
Mind you, they wouldn't have had this question of style over substance if they had built a game that allowed players to edit and to create worlds of their own.
Couldn't agree more.
Yes the worlds do look great, but less backdrops and more gameplay please.
You're absolutely right.
I notice it so much when I play. I do use mods like MCCC and with that mod comes notifications for last exceptions. Upon looking into it (with all my mods updated) There are issues with the pets themselves. I can't even have pets in my household without getting a last exception notice every few minutes of gameplay and low and behold when I take my last exception to Discord I'm told it has to do with the pet themselves and nothing to do with the mods I put in my game. Heck even when removing my mods and playing vanilla I have the same issues. And don't get me started on the issues with the vet clinic. My current household owns a clinic and there are okay days with few bugs I can handle, though still annoying, and then there are, "OMG what the heck is going on", days. Never an in between. I have taken mods completely out before, repaired and ever reinstalled my game! but its just a faulty system.
I agree that the main focus was how beautiful Brindleton Bay is. Just as the sims don't have much depth to them, cats and dogs have been added to the bunch as well as the vet career and that was the biggest reason I bought the pack. The vet career! Don't get me wrong I am an animal lover as well, but it was icing on the cake when I found out about the career. Before I saw the stream I was excited and hyped about it, then came the disappointment on how it was basically a mixture of the medical career and owning a retail store in GTW as well as Owning a restaurant in Dine out (which is a headache and I have not attempted to do so in a long time). Basically a mixture of an already faulty system.
And to me that's generous.
See, I kind of have no choice but to play TS4. It's this iteration or barely any sims at all because I travel a lot and can't bring my gaming PC with me. TS4 is the only one that runs smoothly on the laptop I carry, so even though I hated this game at first I eventually grew to like it for what it is and developed a strange love/hate relationship with it. Playing it still relaxes me. I can get my simming fix from it, learned my way around all the limitations (mods are a great help here of course) but I'm still brutally honest - it's not a good game. And after C&D came out, I realized it'll never change, sadly.
They say you can't build a proper house on a faulty foundation and TS4 proves it to be true.This game's entire story is trying to heal an open wound just covering it with band aids. Layers and layers of band aids that make the wound visually disappear but you know it's still there and is slowly rotting underneath.
I was considering a 5, but then I realized it would be too much because of one major problem I have with TS4, and that's how it needs your imagination to be playable. Now what I mean with this is - previous iterations would FUEL your imagination. They made it bloom, inspired you to come up with absorbing scenarios and backstories and all that jazz. Everything would go smoothly and naturally because that game had so much personality you didn't have to force yourself to play out stories - stories would just happen! On the contrary with TS4 you have to twist your imagination so much it's almost like a mental work out of some sort because the game on its own gives you nothing. Stuff don't happen - you have to pretend they do. And that's why in my opinion it doesn't even deserve a 5, but a mere 4.
Are there improvements from older sim games? Yes. Are they significant enough to be taken into consideration when rating? No. I judge the whole picture.
A sim game that doesn't inspire and immerse the player is a failed game.
Hey @MzPigglyPooh thank you!
I have been getting constant LE reports (I have MCCC as well) and with my game being relatively mod free on the system I’m using I was wondering if it was EA content that was causing the errors. Good to know my hunch was in the right direction! Wish I could say I was surprised that Cats and Dogs have issues, but sadly that doesn’t surprise me in Sims 4.
Seeing the decline in detail is really disappointing. I used to be so impressed how much detail went into things like food making and social interactions. In sims 2 and sims 3 when making food the ingredients displayed really matched what you were making. It was very detailed. In sims 4 everything is mixed as a liquid in a bowl. No matter what you make, a lot of it looks exactly the same. Recycled ingredients, recycled movements.
Same with interactions. Has anyone noticed how different interactions will produce the same exact response and body movements? They say the same three lines over and over again and produce the same body language. Recycled social interactions.
Overall less detail with everything. They don't interact with stuff anymore. In previous sims when you click on a dresser to get changed, they at least opened a drawer first. They interacted. Now they just stand in front of it and twirl. Why even have the dresser? They interacted with cars before leaving, even in sims 2. I've seen them open drawers when making food. They used to be able to actually look out windows. They picked up soap and added it to washers, and added dryer sheets to dryers when doing laundry. There's just so much detail lost that makes it so pleasing to play and watch what the sims are doing. Those tiny details are so important.
Interactions with beds got severely downgraded. No cuddling, making out, reading, daydreaming, relaxing. Just sleeping and not even touching your lover at all while doing so. Interactions with radios don't allow you to dance with others in any real way.
The emotions thing really doesn't add much to the game.
Interactions with infants...(fart noise when making enemies from sims 3 here)
Unless you want to own a restaurant, you're out of luck to have your own business. I wish stores were more functional and that you could own and run more of them. Owning a clothing store...I don't get that. Just stack objects around for people to look at. Why can't I buy actual clothes from cas like in previous sims? I've had fun owning a bakery, but why can't I have real sims that I actually play work there? All the employees are also unknown npcs.
However I gave it a 6 because I was so impressed with the yoga and overall I really liked the spa pack, vampires and get together (although we were able to gather in groups in sims 3 without it costing extra.) I do like the way clubs work though. I enjoy how long they get to stay and it's entire system and functionality. I remember I was sad when yoga was taken out of sims 3 because it was in sims 2 it was just not nearly as detailed as now. I'm a yoga teacher though, so, of course, I liked it.
I also love dining out with my sims and I think it works good too. I enjoy gathering family to a meal out. Very nice addition. And love the ease of adding content to my game from the gallery.
I've heard people complain about the multitasking, but I found it such a relief to have it, even if it doesn't work with everything. Like why can't I drink coffee and play on the computer or call someone?
Also, CAS functions so much better in regards to shoes and hats and body proportions. I do miss the color wheel, but it doesn't make me upset to the point of knocking off points for it.
This.
I don't get why it's so much to ask for gameplay full of depth in a well-designed world. They're backdrops anyway. I never understood why they would use worlds in TS4 as a selling point, if all throughout the promotion of the base game, they preached it was now about Sims and lots over worlds.
I can guarantee that Cats and Dogs is not giving you the errors. I was getting le reports and decided to get rid of every last piece of cc and mods besides mcc and the last exceptions went away. I have every pack.
I'm a rotational player so I like going back and playing the Sims 2, Sims 3, the Sims Stories series, and the Sims Medieval as well as other games. However, I only ever find myself playing the Sims 4 for less than an hour while with other games I'll play consistently for a few days. Like I'll open the Sims 4, look at the title screen, load a save, then... I end up closing it and going to play a different game. As a Sims player, that's disappointing. When I play the Sims 2 I get nostalgic and start thinking up stories to play. When I play the sims 3 I look up challenges to complete (right now I'm doing the Not So Berry Challenge).
But playing the Sims 4 is painful now. Like I applaud the Simmers on Youtube that make let's plays for it. But I give the most respect to Simmers who come out and say they are also getting bored with the game and want to play something else. Like I can't tell you how excited I was when the SimSupply made a joke Video for the Sims 5 (I thought it was finally happening but it was just him trolling). I'm now at the point with the Sims 4 where I'm ready for something else and the sad part is the generation isn't even over yet. When The Sims 3 rolled around I was both excited and sad, I still think there is so much potential for the Sims 2. And when the Sims 4 rolled around I felt the same.
Now I kind of want the game to hurry up and end so the Sims 5 can restore my faith in the Sims Team. Like bring back team members from the Sims 2 and Sims 3, create bigger crews for EPs and SPs, and try to listen to the actual players who are buying the game as I think we have a good idea on what we want to see.
Agree with everything you posted.
I agree with alot of others that there are things that are missing in the game that makes it feel emptier that TS3. I really want university or a fame based game pack. There is alot of potential in TS4 yet and I would be really said if this iteration will come to an end with what we have so far. I'd like seasons too but i'm less fussed on that because at this point i'd like more gameplay features added to round the game out. Also somewhere tropical to live in would be awesome.
1 - graphics art (nature, sims, houses)
2 - building (something missing)
3 - CAS
4, 5 - emotions, animations
6, 7 - toddlers, parenthood, pets (interactions with NPC pets are needed), clubs, go to work, seasons, all building tools (stairs, roofs, separate foundations, etc).
8 - randomness: sims behavior (like/dislike/refuse some sims, do something hilarious), dangerous situations that can lead to death but with possibility to save sim/pet, wild animals (sweet or attack, invade houses randomly, pets befriend/fight with them), burglars and pets chasing them...
9 - perfect multitask, fluid sims (a lot of animations, especially small animations, no idle conversations)
10 - no bugs
When TS4 was first marketed, it seemed that the majority of it was focused on the Sims. Now, it seems as if marketing has dropped that particular...fib (Smarter Sims, weirder stories) and they're concentrating more on: Look! Shiiiiiiny!
The worlds appear to get most of the focus and the budget. The game play? Meh. The animations? Bupkis. We've got Sims who bite ice cream cones and when they eat berries off the trees, they put an imaginary plate or glass down onto an imaginary counter or table.
It's really so shady now.
I've been trying to support this game. I've bought everything up to now, even against my better judgement. Because I love CC and, sometimes, the CC that I want requires a particular pack. However, this week, I made a stand and said no more. I didn't buy the $10 rodent and I'm not buying another thing unless I feel that some real passion and detail was put into it. I will no longer support recycled animations, recycled CAS assets, repetitive objects, and catalogs padded with things that could have easily been counted as a single object. I'm looking at you, MFPS hamster cage! The same dang object, duplicated, given a slight recolor, then marketed as if it's something different.
Seasons is the last big thing that I'm waiting on in order to determine whether or not TS4 is worthy of any additional investment. If they manage to screw that up, oh well. As they say: it's been real and it's been nice. But it ain't been real nice.
I doubt that they'd miss a player like me, anyway. I'm not who they're targeting nowadays. Consumers like me are fast becoming obsolete, I guess. ::shrug::
At this point, I don't think that anyone should be swearing by anything that EA is putting out for TS4.
For example, there are more than a few people complaining about the bug that came with the latest patch/pack. Objects in apartments have been disappearing in games that are completely un-modded.
EA is aware of it. Meanwhile, to my knowledge, no official announcement has been made in order to warn paying customers how to protect their saves until the error can be corrected. Perhaps, EA did so on Twitter. However, I'm generally allergic to IM - style social media. So, who knows.
Perhaps, enough of us don't play apartments to make it matter very much. Again, who knows.
This is how I feel as well. Seasons is the only thing I have hopes for but then again not really if that makes sense. They've just really put their foot in their mouth with what's been going on. Especially with the sims themselves. Ive been playing 2 a lot lately and it amazes me that a game that was made so long ago shows more personality to the sims themselves in a game made so recently. It baffles me everytime.