Will Wright thought the deviant and failure was much more interesting than the happy/successful side of these games. I'm glad they added a lot of stuff to the older games such as failure states and what would happen if a Sim isn't fed, or what would happen if no, they don't get that promotion they wanted, or what would happen if I didn't add a smoke alarm. Would I be able to rescue my Sim, or if I didn't would I feel bad? He liked to explore how this affected players and what moral choices they would make, and I have to say it was a lot more fun when mysery and hardship was more interesting and I could explore what if.
I agree. Will wright also recognized that players preferred to explore failure states. Which makes sense. I do miss that aspect in the sims 4, it makes the game feel shallow. If my sim doesn't care he just lost his job or his child or spouse why should i?
Well I would care - as I would ask myself how would I feel if that was me. That's the difference - even if the sims seems oblivious to something - it may still bother me and I strive to not let those things happen - just because. I do play the other Sims games and well know the failure states in Sims 2 - I don't happen to enjoy it so I purposely try to avoid those kind of things happening. I scrambled probably harder than I have to just to not see the stress and avoid it happening. I get no joy from pain of anyone even Sims. Sorry I can't enjoy those kind of things - I just can't.
I mean when I say I am not a deviate player - I am not kidding - at all.
And that’s fine for you. I have found in the sims 4 that its much harder to care about my sims and their lives. For example my teen got a failing grade, not through me pushing her in that direction, it just happened. Such is life. Anyhow she didn’t care, nor did her parents, it was business as usual.
Now let’s pretend that’s a sims 2 sim. My teen sim would care as would her parents. Because there would be consequences for failing in 2 and because my sim would not want to fail I will try to make sure she doesn’t if that’s what she wants and fits with the story.
It’s not about me purposefully being deviant ( I don’t really play deviant style ) it’s about my sims not reacting to basic things that makes it hard for me to connect to them. For example I was playing the sims 1 recently, the Goth family to be precise. The Goths had another baby. Mortimer was cooking and Cassandra was playing with the baby whilst Bella was talking on the phone. Suddenly the cooker went on fire. And because it’s the sims 1 everyone panics and begins the panic fire dance and for a few Sim minutes it’s pandemonium with the fire burning, sims panicking and the baby screaming.
Mortimer died from the fire. To make matters worse Bella’s needs plummeted and she was hysterical. Refusing to skill build, refusing to do anything other than mourn. The baby was removed for neglect because to be fair she was- Bella and Cassandra were too upset too care for her.
Nothing in that scenario was caused by me. I don’t kill sims for fun. But my point is I felt so bad for the Goths. Bella lost her job as she refused to go into work as she was too depressed. I feel empathy for them and to me they are having a very realistic reaction to a horrible situation.
Now the last time I had a fire in the sims 4 the Mother picked up the Toddler and ran outside. The Dad remained in the kitchen to just stare, stare as the fire ruined the cooker and spread to the counters. I’m clicking on the extinguish option and the sim is ignoring it. So of course he died. Mum came back in several hours later. She had a sad moodlet but it was buried behind 5 happy moodlets and one tense moodlet. Do I believe she cared or noticed her spouse died? No. I would have to pretend she did. That’s my point. I can imagine how it would feel if it were me but I shouldn’t have to pretend my sims have emotions they don’t. I remember watching a sims 4 LP where the youtuber said her sim was “feeling sad and emotional’ to fit in with her story: except her sims emotion was happy!
I think Will Wright hit the nail on the head. Exploring a less than perfect state is more interesting for many than exploring a perfect utopia. Of course not everyone likes that and that’s okay, I imagine they enjoy the sims 4.
Nicely Written! I couldn't have said this better myself.
"Bada su the gorn bada su the brawn bada bady oda aba donk donk donk gerbits gerbits vo gerbits".
Will Wright thought the deviant and failure was much more interesting than the happy/successful side of these games. I'm glad they added a lot of stuff to the older games such as failure states and what would happen if a Sim isn't fed, or what would happen if no, they don't get that promotion they wanted, or what would happen if I didn't add a smoke alarm. Would I be able to rescue my Sim, or if I didn't would I feel bad? He liked to explore how this affected players and what moral choices they would make, and I have to say it was a lot more fun when mysery and hardship was more interesting and I could explore what if.
I agree. Will wright also recognized that players preferred to explore failure states. Which makes sense. I do miss that aspect in the sims 4, it makes the game feel shallow. If my sim doesn't care he just lost his job or his child or spouse why should i?
Well I would care - as I would ask myself how would I feel if that was me. That's the difference - even if the sims seems oblivious to something - it may still bother me and I strive to not let those things happen - just because. I do play the other Sims games and well know the failure states in Sims 2 - I don't happen to enjoy it so I purposely try to avoid those kind of things happening. I scrambled probably harder than I have to just to not see the stress and avoid it happening. I get no joy from pain of anyone even Sims. Sorry I can't enjoy those kind of things - I just can't.
I mean when I say I am not a deviate player - I am not kidding - at all.
And that’s fine for you. I have found in the sims 4 that its much harder to care about my sims and their lives. For example my teen got a failing grade, not through me pushing her in that direction, it just happened. Such is life. Anyhow she didn’t care, nor did her parents, it was business as usual.
Now let’s pretend that’s a sims 2 sim. My teen sim would care as would her parents. Because there would be consequences for failing in 2 and because my sim would not want to fail I will try to make sure she doesn’t if that’s what she wants and fits with the story.
It’s not about me purposefully being deviant ( I don’t really play deviant style ) it’s about my sims not reacting to basic things that makes it hard for me to connect to them. For example I was playing the sims 1 recently, the Goth family to be precise. The Goths had another baby. Mortimer was cooking and Cassandra was playing with the baby whilst Bella was talking on the phone. Suddenly the cooker went on fire. And because it’s the sims 1 everyone panics and begins the panic fire dance and for a few Sim minutes it’s pandemonium with the fire burning, sims panicking and the baby screaming.
Mortimer died from the fire. To make matters worse Bella’s needs plummeted and she was hysterical. Refusing to skill build, refusing to do anything other than mourn. The baby was removed for neglect because to be fair she was- Bella and Cassandra were too upset too care for her.
Nothing in that scenario was caused by me. I don’t kill sims for fun. But my point is I felt so bad for the Goths. Bella lost her job as she refused to go into work as she was too depressed. I feel empathy for them and to me they are having a very realistic reaction to a horrible situation.
Now the last time I had a fire in the sims 4 the Mother picked up the Toddler and ran outside. The Dad remained in the kitchen to just stare, stare as the fire ruined the cooker and spread to the counters. I’m clicking on the extinguish option and the sim is ignoring it. So of course he died. Mum came back in several hours later. She had a sad moodlet but it was buried behind 5 happy moodlets and one tense moodlet. Do I believe she cared or noticed her spouse died? No. I would have to pretend she did. That’s my point. I can imagine how it would feel if it were me but I shouldn’t have to pretend my sims have emotions they don’t. I remember watching a sims 4 LP where the youtuber said her sim was “feeling sad and emotional’ to fit in with her story: except her sims emotion was happy!
I think Will Wright hit the nail on the head. Exploring a less than perfect state is more interesting for many than exploring a perfect utopia. Of course not everyone likes that and that’s okay, I imagine they enjoy the sims 4.
Nicely Written! I couldn't have said this better myself.
YES!
SIMS AREN'T AWARE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS
AND THEY DON'T HAVE CONSEQUENCES
it makes nothing matter and me not care much about my sims aside from how pretty they look-- thanks to cc.
Will Wright thought the deviant and failure was much more interesting than the happy/successful side of these games. I'm glad they added a lot of stuff to the older games such as failure states and what would happen if a Sim isn't fed, or what would happen if no, they don't get that promotion they wanted, or what would happen if I didn't add a smoke alarm. Would I be able to rescue my Sim, or if I didn't would I feel bad? He liked to explore how this affected players and what moral choices they would make, and I have to say it was a lot more fun when mysery and hardship was more interesting and I could explore what if.
I agree. Will wright also recognized that players preferred to explore failure states. Which makes sense. I do miss that aspect in the sims 4, it makes the game feel shallow. If my sim doesn't care he just lost his job or his child or spouse why should i?
Well I would care - as I would ask myself how would I feel if that was me. That's the difference - even if the sims seems oblivious to something - it may still bother me and I strive to not let those things happen - just because. I do play the other Sims games and well know the failure states in Sims 2 - I don't happen to enjoy it so I purposely try to avoid those kind of things happening. I scrambled probably harder than I have to just to not see the stress and avoid it happening. I get no joy from pain of anyone even Sims. Sorry I can't enjoy those kind of things - I just can't.
I mean when I say I am not a deviate player - I am not kidding - at all.
Yeah but it’s a simulation the sims are meant to portray happiness/sadness and react to certain things it’s not VR it’s simulation ... so I understand that if my sims feel you also feel compassion if they don’t then #shrugsShoulders lol me neither ...
Will Wright thought the deviant and failure was much more interesting than the happy/successful side of these games. I'm glad they added a lot of stuff to the older games such as failure states and what would happen if a Sim isn't fed, or what would happen if no, they don't get that promotion they wanted, or what would happen if I didn't add a smoke alarm. Would I be able to rescue my Sim, or if I didn't would I feel bad? He liked to explore how this affected players and what moral choices they would make, and I have to say it was a lot more fun when mysery and hardship was more interesting and I could explore what if.
I agree. Will wright also recognized that players preferred to explore failure states. Which makes sense. I do miss that aspect in the sims 4, it makes the game feel shallow. If my sim doesn't care he just lost his job or his child or spouse why should i?
Well I would care - as I would ask myself how would I feel if that was me. That's the difference - even if the sims seems oblivious to something - it may still bother me and I strive to not let those things happen - just because. I do play the other Sims games and well know the failure states in Sims 2 - I don't happen to enjoy it so I purposely try to avoid those kind of things happening. I scrambled probably harder than I have to just to not see the stress and avoid it happening. I get no joy from pain of anyone even Sims. Sorry I can't enjoy those kind of things - I just can't.
I mean when I say I am not a deviate player - I am not kidding - at all.
And that’s fine for you. I have found in the sims 4 that its much harder to care about my sims and their lives. For example my teen got a failing grade, not through me pushing her in that direction, it just happened. Such is life. Anyhow she didn’t care, nor did her parents, it was business as usual.
Now let’s pretend that’s a sims 2 sim. My teen sim would care as would her parents. Because there would be consequences for failing in 2 and because my sim would not want to fail I will try to make sure she doesn’t if that’s what she wants and fits with the story.
It’s not about me purposefully being deviant ( I don’t really play deviant style ) it’s about my sims not reacting to basic things that makes it hard for me to connect to them. For example I was playing the sims 1 recently, the Goth family to be precise. The Goths had another baby. Mortimer was cooking and Cassandra was playing with the baby whilst Bella was talking on the phone. Suddenly the cooker went on fire. And because it’s the sims 1 everyone panics and begins the panic fire dance and for a few Sim minutes it’s pandemonium with the fire burning, sims panicking and the baby screaming.
Mortimer died from the fire. To make matters worse Bella’s needs plummeted and she was hysterical. Refusing to skill build, refusing to do anything other than mourn. The baby was removed for neglect because to be fair she was- Bella and Cassandra were too upset too care for her.
Nothing in that scenario was caused by me. I don’t kill sims for fun. But my point is I felt so bad for the Goths. Bella lost her job as she refused to go into work as she was too depressed. I feel empathy for them and to me they are having a very realistic reaction to a horrible situation.
Now the last time I had a fire in the sims 4 the Mother picked up the Toddler and ran outside. The Dad remained in the kitchen to just stare, stare as the fire ruined the cooker and spread to the counters. I’m clicking on the extinguish option and the sim is ignoring it. So of course he died. Mum came back in several hours later. She had a sad moodlet but it was buried behind 5 happy moodlets and one tense moodlet. Do I believe she cared or noticed her spouse died? No. I would have to pretend she did. That’s my point. I can imagine how it would feel if it were me but I shouldn’t have to pretend my sims have emotions they don’t. I remember watching a sims 4 LP where the youtuber said her sim was “feeling sad and emotional’ to fit in with her story: except her sims emotion was happy!
I think Will Wright hit the nail on the head. Exploring a less than perfect state is more interesting for many than exploring a perfect utopia. Of course not everyone likes that and that’s okay, I imagine they enjoy the sims 4.
Nicely Written! I couldn't have said this better myself.
YES!
SIMS AREN'T AWARE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS
AND THEY DON'T HAVE CONSEQUENCES
it makes nothing matter and me not care much about my sims aside from how pretty they look-- thanks to cc.
This is exactly what I was trying to say, but you said it much better!😃 I cannot get immersed in this game, because the sims do not have any personality, consequences, or randomness. It feels like a virtual doll house, not a simulation game.
the biggest thing making it difficult for me to enjoy playing is all the lag. since i got cats and dogs, i find that i have to pause the game every 5 to 10 seconds so my sim can "catch up" and move on to the next action in his queue.
in the beginning, i was having a lot of issues with bugs. now it's the lag. grrr...absolutely drives me nuts and i can only take so much of it before i have to take a break from the game.
My Sims do seem to care when bad things happen. My kids and teens come home angry or 'mortified' by a chance card that came up during the school day, or something else (hover over the moodlet, and you'll see what is bumming your Sim out). Kids get a sad moodlet when their little dolls die with the doctor set. Adults come home stressed by work, and there is a chance of 'failure' if the adult's mood is 'very' angry, playful, mortified, etc. They added the death notices, and now everyone is complaining that their Sims are too sad. A faux-pas during a conversation will embarass Sims. My scientist Sim had a task to 'make fun of a tourist', which she accomplished, but she was quite upset about it; hovering over her moodlet, it seems that being mean made her feel bad.
Anything bad - lost jobs, relationship break-ups, etc - will generate a negative moodlet. Sometimes, those moodlets get covered up by positive influences, so it might seem as if the Sim doesn't care. I agree that some tuning is needed, but to me, the whole point of the game is to keep my Sims happy and make sure their needs are met while accomplishing the goals I've set for them. If they come home tense or angry, it's my job to send them off jogging or have them blog out their feelings. That's how the game surprises and challenges me.
My Sims do seem to care when bad things happen. My kids and teens come home angry or 'mortified' by a chance card that came up during the school day, or something else (hover over the moodlet, and you'll see what is bumming your Sim out). Kids get a sad moodlet when their little dolls die with the doctor set. Adults come home stressed by work, and there is a chance of 'failure' if the adult's mood is 'very' angry, playful, mortified, etc. They added the death notices, and now everyone is complaining that their Sims are too sad. A faux-pas during a conversation will embarass Sims. My scientist Sim had a task to 'make fun of a tourist', which she accomplished, but she was quite upset about it; hovering over her moodlet, it seems that being mean made her feel bad.
Anything bad - lost jobs, relationship break-ups, etc - will generate a negative moodlet. Sometimes, those moodlets get covered up by positive influences, so it might seem as if the Sim doesn't care. I agree that some tuning is needed, but to me, the whole point of the game is to keep my Sims happy and make sure their needs are met while accomplishing the goals I've set for them. If they come home tense or angry, it's my job to send them off jogging or have them blog out their feelings. That's how the game surprises and challenges me.
A buff system can't replace the simulation of a life simulator. It will always be shallow and more like those casual games that reward buffs and levels to gain a goal. That is what is wrong with TS4 it's a goal game and nothing more. ETA: TS4 is just manipulating buffs, and not actually 'playing with life' because life is sometimes hard, ugly and messy, but all players are doing is manipulating buffs.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
Lets be honest, all negativity like the ones Invisiblgirl describes come down to moodlets. Moodlets that get buried under a wave of positive, happy moodlets if their house is decorated well enough. Some emotions have corresponding behaviours like anger has the angry walk, tense has slamming fridges and shouting forbidden words but again all sims act the same way in those states and the key to solving those moodlets is the same method. I mean my sim was stood in shorts and t shirt painting indoors, minding her own business when she got a moodlet saying she was overheating and a message popped up saying she was dying from the heat. Did she act like she was overheating? Nope. She didn't give any indication anything was wrong. Because the shorts and t shirt weren't in the designated "warm weather" clothing category (not even sure why she was over heating) the game decided she was dying. As soon as I changed her outfit into a proper "warm weather" outfit from the category the moodlet disappeared and she was no longer "dying"
The game relies far, far too much on moodlets. Don't tell me what is apparently wrong with my sims, show me via the sim themselves.
Sometimes the game just feels like a happiness barometer.
@MidnightAura it isn't very realistic when negative moodlets are buried under a lot of positive moodlets caused by decorations. I'm probably in the minority, but i actually like it that way. No more having a good mood ruined by a negative moodlet that seemingly comes out of nowhere far too often in my opinion.
I like my sim being in a good mood and really dislike having to deal with negative moodlets that the game often likes to throw at my sim for no apparent reason. If I'm being negligent with my sim and his/her needs aren't being met, than i don't have a problem with having to deal with the resulting negative moodlets. It's when my sim is well cared for, and in a great mood, that it really upsets me when the game throws me a curveball with a negative moodlet from out of nowhere. So glad that i don't have to deal with that very often in TS4.
Moodlets that get buried under a wave of positive, happy moodlets if their house is decorated well enough. Some emotions have corresponding behaviours like anger has the angry walk, tense has slamming fridges and shouting forbidden words but again all sims act the same way in those states and the key to solving those moodlets is the same method.
This.
I'd be a lot more interested in the game if they had a personality layering system where moods other than the primary one were acknowledged, even if muted due to the primary one. (E.G: You may be happy because you're well cared for, surrounded by a loving family, and have a naturally cheerful disposition. If you had a bad day, I'd still want you to be able to journal about it.) Allow traits to meaningfully add a layer too, beyond granting some simple moodlets or interactions, and I'll be impressed. Even more so if there's a robust memory and/or reputation system at play.
I'll grant that those are some pretty deep requests. But those sort of deep level system additions will make the game feel more real and engaging than any amount of fluff layers could.
I can't say I am sick of the sims 4 but I do play other games as well. I actually have this habit sometimes good and sometimes bad where if I play a lot of one game to the point it feels stale, I move onto another one until the previous game grabs my attention again or instead of playing a new game focusing on something outside of games, to work out. I do this with the sims every now and then because some times it feel unchanged or I just get frustrated with it. When I come back to play I try and do things I haven't done before or did very little of. Like on this play through I am actually trying to be more diverse with skills and build skills I've never used in the past as well as using reward points (no I never bothered with them before). I am also poking around build items I've never tried out like collecting all the elements and building up new collections from the bottom up. You just have to find something that works for you and peaks your interest. Don't force yourself to pay, take a break if you want, it will always be there for you when you wanna play again.
I can't say I am sick of the sims 4 but I do play other games as well. I actually have this habit...where if I play a lot of one game to the point it feels stale, I move onto another one until the previous game grabs my attention again... I do this with the sims every now and then because some times it feel unchanged or I just get frustrated with it. When I come back to play I try and do things I haven't done before or did very little of.
Many gamers go thru periods of rotating games, it's normal and good! It can prevent satiation of any one game.
A problem with TS4 that I never had with the previous three Sims games is that when I finally come back, or even get an intense craving to play out of the blue, I'm bored within the first 20 or 30 minutes (and it takes a lot to bore me) .
It's like a letdown, no matter what family I'm controlling or what lot I'm building/decorating, no matter what skills I'm improving or career I'm trying to advance in or new element to explore. It's the same ol' same ol' every time, finding myself wandering from town to town trying to decide who to play or what to do. I end up admiring a well-made lot, cycling it thru the different times of day in build mode... not playing but rather looking around and then leaving. Window shopping, of sorts.
Currently, I'm tearing myself away (painfully) from Witcher 3 and Destiny 2 to play a new family. I really want to try some new things, go on trips, have a bunch of babies, shake up stuff a bit. Hoping this will turn into some fun and crazy adventure... We'll see. 😏
"If you don't talk to your cat about catnip... who will?"
"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."
I been playing the Sims since 2000 and the sad true of the matter most of the good coders that worked on the original game left for other games that needed them more than the Sims, so that is why we got the game we did when Sims 4 came out because there was only a handful at the time, because most of the other coders went to work for either battlefield 4 or Sim City Online even though that didn't last long. I think originally TS4 was supposed to have some online elements, but after the backlash they got with SimCity Online or SimCity 5 the reworked to be offline, so not all the features would be available right away.
Sid1701d-"I love my life, live my life and live to play, laugh and have fun."
"Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
I been playing the Sims since 2000 and the sad true of the matter most of the good coders that worked on the original game left for other games that needed them more than the Sims, so that is why we got the game we did when Sims 4 came out because there was only a handful at the time, because most of the other coders went to work for either battlefield 4 or Sim City Online even though that didn't last long. I think originally TS4 was supposed to have some online elements, but after the backlash they got with SimCity Online or SimCity 5 the reworked to be offline, so not all the features would be available right away.
Not true. The Sims 4 team is huge. You only have to check the credits in each game.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
The players are the cause of the lack of creativity. We could have innovative packs to move the series forward, but no, we must have toddlers, we must have laundry, we must have University. Concepts like Get Together clubs, Parenthood character values and Vampires power system are far more interesting than the ability to make a hill.
I purposely take a break from the game from time to time so I don't burn out. Especially when I tend to play the same sims while adopting the same careers for them lol. At least I build them an original house each new play-through.... lol that's a start.
It's normal to get bored of the game. (as was shared by Writin_Reg). I agree... it's all part of being a simmer. Maybe take a break, spend some time playing a different game for a bit, keep posting on the forum and soon maybe a conversation or two will have you missing the sims again.
Good luck.
This. I have played the Sims series since 2001, when I was in my early 30's. Sometimes I want to play a game with swordplay and actual fighting, and maybe more gore than the Sims. So I play a dungeon-diving RPG for awhile, then I come back to my Sims when I find myself starting to wonder...what exactly are my adventurer's doing between adventures, and how boring is it that the bar in the RPG only offers two or three drinks at most, always the same ones, and never soda or milk, or anything else with interesting descriptions.
Or, I play a first-person shooter game, if I really want to turn up the gore, or focus on active fighting. But some of the first person shooters out there that I have played (Doom, Quake) just felt TOO gory to me, and in time I went back to my Sims in their nice, cozy little gore-free world.
Other times, I don't feel like being terribly creative and just want to play something for only a half hour to an hour or so. So I play casual games, such as Match-3 games, or hidden object games, or card games. But even the hidden object games that I like best, the single-player ones with stories...are based on short stories, and the story ends after about 50 hours of play. You can replay the story, but it just isn't as much fun for me after the full story has been revealed.
For awhile, I was into social networking games, still am to a large extent. These, like mobile games, also work great if you don't want to play for more than an hour at a time. But if you DO want to play for longer, or if you are frustrated because your friends got tired of that game and moved on, or never played it in the first place....you go back to a game that you CAN play for longer, or can play without social media pals...like the Sims. (I did play the Sims Social while it was online, but I never opened most of the boxes I received in that game, nor built most of the stuff being offered there, and I have a screenshot saved that shows every.single.object. in that game as a circle because the lag was so bad. I think the reason that game died was the lag and that there was no alternate way to get parts for stuff besides begging friends or using real money). Most mobile games are really just social networking games, since they usually link to your social network account. Both mobile and social networking games are also overflowing with advertisements. When you get sick of the advertisements, you go back to single-player games, with minimal advertisements - or at least advertisements you can opt completely out of.
Around 2005-2007, I found the Sims world too incomplete - it lacked a zoo, and it lacked a farm, and it lacked a train or an airport, and it lacked a means of running your own service business. So I played zoo simulator, farm simulator, train simulator, mall simulator, and airport simulator games, Coffee Tycoon, Restaurant Tycoon, and even a space simulator game called "Space Colony". I also enjoyed SimTower, and SimAnt around that time. But eventually those simulators' limitations and lack of integration with each other brought me back to SimCity and the Sims.
I have been playing The Sims since 2001, when Livin Large came out. My avatar deliberately looks like Chris Roomies from TS1.
I do get disappointed pretty much every time I play because of lack of detail, lack of interactions with objects, some things being cartoony and ridiculous looking like the machine they use now to pull weeds, and lack of connection with the outside world like how we don't even have to gather flowers to arrange them at the table etc...I hate how everything just appears out of thin air and how so many tasks are completed without much or any visible interactions.
Overall the game is in fact watered down and you can tell corners were cut to get things out faster. I play sims 4 way less than I played sims 2 and 3. Lately I only seem to play sims 4 after new content comes out just hoping it will help but the same lack of everything I spoke about above seems to be maintained throughout every expansion and pack, except vampires.
There are things I enjoy, the storms and snow are beautiful, the multitasking is essential, I love the photography, the restaurants run great both owning them and eating out with others, love the food stalls and learning new cuisine, love the yoga, I like how the sims themselves look like the graphics for them, love the toddlers, love the drag aspect of cas and build mode.
So, There are things I love about sims 4 but lack of detail and interactions, as stated above, make me feel disconnected from the game. Immersion is missing that I had with previous sims.
There's no reason NOT to go back to Sims 2 or 3 if you still enjoy those games. I have played those since Sims 4 came out, but still found myself returning to Sims 4. In Sims 2, if you have a lot of content, it takes MUCH longer to find what you are looking for since the categorization is not as detailed as in Sims 4. Also, though I enjoy Sims 2 Bon Voyage, and its local gestures and dances, I found myself missing my Jungle Adventure vacation area, where you actually follow your Sim and get several chance cards per "tour", not just one. But most of all, in both Sims 2 and Sims 3, I found myself missing the ability for Sims to multitask, and found myself with several lonely Sims because they could not socialize while doing anything else. The closest Sims 2 has to multitasking is when Sims fall asleep in their food. I also found myself missing the Sims 4 detail in Create a Sim, and the ability to resize rooms in build mode, and move entire buildings within a lot. Still, I do continue to play those games, because I miss things like cars, university, and the Sims 2 attraction system, zodiac signs, a working hotel system, Sims 3 color wheel and open world, and Sims 2 or 3 hidden lots where you could actually do stuff with your Sim. Not to even mention certain custom content or store content that was created for those games that hasn't been yet for Sims 4.
I have been playing The Sims since 2001, when Livin Large came out. My avatar deliberately looks like Chris Roomies from TS1.
Everyone goes through a sort of lull in a game even hardcore action games and RPGs sometimes start to get repetitive. In the case of sims though it can happen more often because a lot of stuff is just repeated from older games. Personally I think There should be something that sets the others apart from each other.
A lull you call it... why sugar coat it the game has nothing much to offer the people buying into it ... from day one at most it had a good days worth of game play .... if it wasn’t for mods and simmer creativity this game would of stayed on the shelves ... point blank period !
Interesting...I played 100 hours before I started adding custom content, and about 500 hours before I started adding script mods. I am also a casual gamer, and Sims 4 base game has at least double the play of any casual game. I currently have logged 1896 hours of play for Sims 4 and its packs, including 37 hours logged on Create a Sim Demo. Part of that true, is simply starting the game can add an hour of play for what is only 5 minutes, but I am pretty sure at least 1500 hours of that is legit play time.
By comparison, casual games that I have played that aren't social networking games...I usually only log about 50 hours per game on those. Still, since I am not playing 24/7, at 2-4 hours per day, that comes out to about 2 weeks per casual game. I also never spend more than $10 per casual game, and on social networking games, I usually spend no more than $5 per game, or $1 average per month if it is a really good social networking game that holds my interest for more than 3 months.
I have been playing The Sims since 2001, when Livin Large came out. My avatar deliberately looks like Chris Roomies from TS1.
> @MidnightAura said: > Writin_Reg wrote: » > > MidnightAura wrote: » > > Cinebar wrote: » > > Will Wright thought the deviant and failure was much more interesting than the happy/successful side of these games. I'm glad they added a lot of stuff to the older games such as failure states and what would happen if a Sim isn't fed, or what would happen if no, they don't get that promotion they wanted, or what would happen if I didn't add a smoke alarm. Would I be able to rescue my Sim, or if I didn't would I feel bad? He liked to explore how this affected players and what moral choices they would make, and I have to say it was a lot more fun when mysery and hardship was more interesting and I could explore what if. > > > > > I agree. Will wright also recognized that players preferred to explore failure states. Which makes sense. I do miss that aspect in the sims 4, it makes the game feel shallow. If my sim doesn't care he just lost his job or his child or spouse why should i? > > > > > Well I would care - as I would ask myself how would I feel if that was me. That's the difference - even if the sims seems oblivious to something - it may still bother me and I strive to not let those things happen - just because. I do play the other Sims games and well know the failure states in Sims 2 - I don't happen to enjoy it so I purposely try to avoid those kind of things happening. I scrambled probably harder than I have to just to not see the stress and avoid it happening. I get no joy from pain of anyone even Sims. Sorry I can't enjoy those kind of things - I just can't. > > I mean when I say I am not a deviate player - I am not kidding - at all. > > > > > And that’s fine for you. I have found in the sims 4 that its much harder to care about my sims and their lives. For example my teen got a failing grade, not through me pushing her in that direction, it just happened. Such is life. Anyhow she didn’t care, nor did her parents, it was business as usual. > > Now let’s pretend that’s a sims 2 sim. My teen sim would care as would her parents. Because there would be consequences for failing in 2 and because my sim would not want to fail I will try to make sure she doesn’t if that’s what she wants and fits with the story. > > It’s not about me purposefully being deviant ( I don’t really play deviant style ) it’s about my sims not reacting to basic things that makes it hard for me to connect to them. For example I was playing the sims 1 recently, the Goth family to be precise. The Goths had another baby. Mortimer was cooking and Cassandra was playing with the baby whilst Bella was talking on the phone. Suddenly the cooker went on fire. And because it’s the sims 1 everyone panics and begins the panic fire dance and for a few Sim minutes it’s pandemonium with the fire burning, sims panicking and the baby screaming. > > Mortimer died from the fire. To make matters worse Bella’s needs plummeted and she was hysterical. Refusing to skill build, refusing to do anything other than mourn. The baby was removed for neglect because to be fair she was- Bella and Cassandra were too upset too care for her. > > Nothing in that scenario was caused by me. I don’t kill sims for fun. But my point is I felt so bad for the Goths. Bella lost her job as she refused to go into work as she was too depressed. I feel empathy for them and to me they are having a very realistic reaction to a horrible situation. > > Now the last time I had a fire in the sims 4 the Mother picked up the Toddler and ran outside. The Dad remained in the kitchen to just stare, stare as the fire ruined the cooker and spread to the counters. I’m clicking on the extinguish option and the sim is ignoring it. So of course he died. Mum came back in several hours later. She had a sad moodlet but it was buried behind 5 happy moodlets and one tense moodlet. Do I believe she cared or noticed her spouse died? No. I would have to pretend she did. That’s my point. I can imagine how it would feel if it were me but I shouldn’t have to pretend my sims have emotions they don’t. I remember watching a sims 4 LP where the youtuber said her sim was “feeling sad and emotional’ to fit in with her story: except her sims emotion was happy! > > I think Will Wright hit the nail on the head. Exploring a less than perfect state is more interesting for many than exploring a perfect utopia. Of course not everyone likes that and that’s okay, I imagine they enjoy the sims 4.
i agree on everything you just said! in the sims 2, consequences were much bigger and I think that was a good thing. You know if the pizza man was late he would have to pay extra for that and such. I miss those things.
I really miss the things that the sims 2 and 3 had that made the gameplay so alive. I love that things actually had consequences back then and now with the sims 4 it's like "oh failing school, well that's fine!". I wish that things like breaking up and things had a bigger impact on your sims lives.
> @hevker said: > I run into TS4 burnout sometimes and I find if i've been playing the game alot then I get sick of it, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the game. It's just a personal thing for me, I get the exact same when playing games on my xbox that I get bored of after a while. Don't get me wrong I understand that TS4 isn't for anyone but I do really enjoy the time I spend playing. > > HOWEVER. I can't play without MC command center anymore it just adds so much more excitement and if I ever want to change something up I tweak the settings and find myself having fun again. I also play with mods alot such as new careers, traits ect. At this point i'm less interested in terrain tools (even though I do see the want/need for them) but I would love a personality system where traits and emotions actually matter. Also more supernaturals as vampires is amazing!
this is what happens to me as well and it takes me a long time to actually get back into the game. this rarely happened with the sims 3 though
Comments
Nicely Written! I couldn't have said this better myself.
YES!
SIMS AREN'T AWARE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS
AND THEY DON'T HAVE CONSEQUENCES
it makes nothing matter and me not care much about my sims aside from how pretty they look-- thanks to cc.
Yeah but it’s a simulation the sims are meant to portray happiness/sadness and react to certain things it’s not VR it’s simulation ... so I understand that if my sims feel you also feel compassion if they don’t then #shrugsShoulders lol me neither ...
in the beginning, i was having a lot of issues with bugs. now it's the lag. grrr...absolutely drives me nuts and i can only take so much of it before i have to take a break from the game.
Maybe that's why we have a load screen from one house to another. So we don't get hurt crossing the street. lol. [/quote]
Huge laugh on this! Thanks
Anything bad - lost jobs, relationship break-ups, etc - will generate a negative moodlet. Sometimes, those moodlets get covered up by positive influences, so it might seem as if the Sim doesn't care. I agree that some tuning is needed, but to me, the whole point of the game is to keep my Sims happy and make sure their needs are met while accomplishing the goals I've set for them. If they come home tense or angry, it's my job to send them off jogging or have them blog out their feelings. That's how the game surprises and challenges me.
A buff system can't replace the simulation of a life simulator. It will always be shallow and more like those casual games that reward buffs and levels to gain a goal. That is what is wrong with TS4 it's a goal game and nothing more. ETA: TS4 is just manipulating buffs, and not actually 'playing with life' because life is sometimes hard, ugly and messy, but all players are doing is manipulating buffs.
The game relies far, far too much on moodlets. Don't tell me what is apparently wrong with my sims, show me via the sim themselves.
Sometimes the game just feels like a happiness barometer.
I like my sim being in a good mood and really dislike having to deal with negative moodlets that the game often likes to throw at my sim for no apparent reason. If I'm being negligent with my sim and his/her needs aren't being met, than i don't have a problem with having to deal with the resulting negative moodlets. It's when my sim is well cared for, and in a great mood, that it really upsets me when the game throws me a curveball with a negative moodlet from out of nowhere. So glad that i don't have to deal with that very often in TS4.
This.
I'd be a lot more interested in the game if they had a personality layering system where moods other than the primary one were acknowledged, even if muted due to the primary one. (E.G: You may be happy because you're well cared for, surrounded by a loving family, and have a naturally cheerful disposition. If you had a bad day, I'd still want you to be able to journal about it.) Allow traits to meaningfully add a layer too, beyond granting some simple moodlets or interactions, and I'll be impressed. Even more so if there's a robust memory and/or reputation system at play.
I'll grant that those are some pretty deep requests. But those sort of deep level system additions will make the game feel more real and engaging than any amount of fluff layers could.
Like on this play through I am actually trying to be more diverse with skills and build skills I've never used in the past as well as using reward points (no I never bothered with them before). I am also poking around build items I've never tried out like collecting all the elements and building up new collections from the bottom up.
You just have to find something that works for you and peaks your interest. Don't force yourself to pay, take a break if you want, it will always be there for you when you wanna play again.
Many gamers go thru periods of rotating games, it's normal and good! It can prevent satiation of any one game.
A problem with TS4 that I never had with the previous three Sims games is that when I finally come back, or even get an intense craving to play out of the blue, I'm bored within the first 20 or 30 minutes (and it takes a lot to bore me) .
It's like a letdown, no matter what family I'm controlling or what lot I'm building/decorating, no matter what skills I'm improving or career I'm trying to advance in or new element to explore. It's the same ol' same ol' every time, finding myself wandering from town to town trying to decide who to play or what to do. I end up admiring a well-made lot, cycling it thru the different times of day in build mode... not playing but rather looking around and then leaving. Window shopping, of sorts.
Currently, I'm tearing myself away (painfully) from Witcher 3 and Destiny 2 to play a new family. I really want to try some new things, go on trips, have a bunch of babies, shake up stuff a bit. Hoping this will turn into some fun and crazy adventure... We'll see. 😏
"If you don't talk to your cat about catnip... who will?"
"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."
"Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
It's just that decorating your house makes it so easy to smother any sadness.
"Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
Not true. The Sims 4 team is huge. You only have to check the credits in each game.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
This. I have played the Sims series since 2001, when I was in my early 30's. Sometimes I want to play a game with swordplay and actual fighting, and maybe more gore than the Sims. So I play a dungeon-diving RPG for awhile, then I come back to my Sims when I find myself starting to wonder...what exactly are my adventurer's doing between adventures, and how boring is it that the bar in the RPG only offers two or three drinks at most, always the same ones, and never soda or milk, or anything else with interesting descriptions.
Or, I play a first-person shooter game, if I really want to turn up the gore, or focus on active fighting. But some of the first person shooters out there that I have played (Doom, Quake) just felt TOO gory to me, and in time I went back to my Sims in their nice, cozy little gore-free world.
Other times, I don't feel like being terribly creative and just want to play something for only a half hour to an hour or so. So I play casual games, such as Match-3 games, or hidden object games, or card games. But even the hidden object games that I like best, the single-player ones with stories...are based on short stories, and the story ends after about 50 hours of play. You can replay the story, but it just isn't as much fun for me after the full story has been revealed.
For awhile, I was into social networking games, still am to a large extent. These, like mobile games, also work great if you don't want to play for more than an hour at a time. But if you DO want to play for longer, or if you are frustrated because your friends got tired of that game and moved on, or never played it in the first place....you go back to a game that you CAN play for longer, or can play without social media pals...like the Sims. (I did play the Sims Social while it was online, but I never opened most of the boxes I received in that game, nor built most of the stuff being offered there, and I have a screenshot saved that shows every.single.object. in that game as a circle because the lag was so bad. I think the reason that game died was the lag and that there was no alternate way to get parts for stuff besides begging friends or using real money). Most mobile games are really just social networking games, since they usually link to your social network account. Both mobile and social networking games are also overflowing with advertisements. When you get sick of the advertisements, you go back to single-player games, with minimal advertisements - or at least advertisements you can opt completely out of.
Around 2005-2007, I found the Sims world too incomplete - it lacked a zoo, and it lacked a farm, and it lacked a train or an airport, and it lacked a means of running your own service business. So I played zoo simulator, farm simulator, train simulator, mall simulator, and airport simulator games, Coffee Tycoon, Restaurant Tycoon, and even a space simulator game called "Space Colony". I also enjoyed SimTower, and SimAnt around that time. But eventually those simulators' limitations and lack of integration with each other brought me back to SimCity and the Sims.
There's no reason NOT to go back to Sims 2 or 3 if you still enjoy those games. I have played those since Sims 4 came out, but still found myself returning to Sims 4. In Sims 2, if you have a lot of content, it takes MUCH longer to find what you are looking for since the categorization is not as detailed as in Sims 4. Also, though I enjoy Sims 2 Bon Voyage, and its local gestures and dances, I found myself missing my Jungle Adventure vacation area, where you actually follow your Sim and get several chance cards per "tour", not just one. But most of all, in both Sims 2 and Sims 3, I found myself missing the ability for Sims to multitask, and found myself with several lonely Sims because they could not socialize while doing anything else. The closest Sims 2 has to multitasking is when Sims fall asleep in their food. I also found myself missing the Sims 4 detail in Create a Sim, and the ability to resize rooms in build mode, and move entire buildings within a lot. Still, I do continue to play those games, because I miss things like cars, university, and the Sims 2 attraction system, zodiac signs, a working hotel system, Sims 3 color wheel and open world, and Sims 2 or 3 hidden lots where you could actually do stuff with your Sim. Not to even mention certain custom content or store content that was created for those games that hasn't been yet for Sims 4.
Interesting...I played 100 hours before I started adding custom content, and about 500 hours before I started adding script mods. I am also a casual gamer, and Sims 4 base game has at least double the play of any casual game. I currently have logged 1896 hours of play for Sims 4 and its packs, including 37 hours logged on Create a Sim Demo. Part of that true, is simply starting the game can add an hour of play for what is only 5 minutes, but I am pretty sure at least 1500 hours of that is legit play time.
By comparison, casual games that I have played that aren't social networking games...I usually only log about 50 hours per game on those. Still, since I am not playing 24/7, at 2-4 hours per day, that comes out to about 2 weeks per casual game. I also never spend more than $10 per casual game, and on social networking games, I usually spend no more than $5 per game, or $1 average per month if it is a really good social networking game that holds my interest for more than 3 months.
> Writin_Reg wrote: »
>
> MidnightAura wrote: »
>
> Cinebar wrote: »
>
> Will Wright thought the deviant and failure was much more interesting than the happy/successful side of these games. I'm glad they added a lot of stuff to the older games such as failure states and what would happen if a Sim isn't fed, or what would happen if no, they don't get that promotion they wanted, or what would happen if I didn't add a smoke alarm. Would I be able to rescue my Sim, or if I didn't would I feel bad? He liked to explore how this affected players and what moral choices they would make, and I have to say it was a lot more fun when mysery and hardship was more interesting and I could explore what if.
>
>
>
>
> I agree. Will wright also recognized that players preferred to explore failure states. Which makes sense. I do miss that aspect in the sims 4, it makes the game feel shallow. If my sim doesn't care he just lost his job or his child or spouse why should i?
>
>
>
>
> Well I would care - as I would ask myself how would I feel if that was me. That's the difference - even if the sims seems oblivious to something - it may still bother me and I strive to not let those things happen - just because. I do play the other Sims games and well know the failure states in Sims 2 - I don't happen to enjoy it so I purposely try to avoid those kind of things happening. I scrambled probably harder than I have to just to not see the stress and avoid it happening. I get no joy from pain of anyone even Sims. Sorry I can't enjoy those kind of things - I just can't.
>
> I mean when I say I am not a deviate player - I am not kidding - at all.
>
>
>
>
> And that’s fine for you. I have found in the sims 4 that its much harder to care about my sims and their lives. For example my teen got a failing grade, not through me pushing her in that direction, it just happened. Such is life. Anyhow she didn’t care, nor did her parents, it was business as usual.
>
> Now let’s pretend that’s a sims 2 sim. My teen sim would care as would her parents. Because there would be consequences for failing in 2 and because my sim would not want to fail I will try to make sure she doesn’t if that’s what she wants and fits with the story.
>
> It’s not about me purposefully being deviant ( I don’t really play deviant style ) it’s about my sims not reacting to basic things that makes it hard for me to connect to them. For example I was playing the sims 1 recently, the Goth family to be precise. The Goths had another baby. Mortimer was cooking and Cassandra was playing with the baby whilst Bella was talking on the phone. Suddenly the cooker went on fire. And because it’s the sims 1 everyone panics and begins the panic fire dance and for a few Sim minutes it’s pandemonium with the fire burning, sims panicking and the baby screaming.
>
> Mortimer died from the fire. To make matters worse Bella’s needs plummeted and she was hysterical. Refusing to skill build, refusing to do anything other than mourn. The baby was removed for neglect because to be fair she was- Bella and Cassandra were too upset too care for her.
>
> Nothing in that scenario was caused by me. I don’t kill sims for fun. But my point is I felt so bad for the Goths. Bella lost her job as she refused to go into work as she was too depressed. I feel empathy for them and to me they are having a very realistic reaction to a horrible situation.
>
> Now the last time I had a fire in the sims 4 the Mother picked up the Toddler and ran outside. The Dad remained in the kitchen to just stare, stare as the fire ruined the cooker and spread to the counters. I’m clicking on the extinguish option and the sim is ignoring it. So of course he died. Mum came back in several hours later. She had a sad moodlet but it was buried behind 5 happy moodlets and one tense moodlet. Do I believe she cared or noticed her spouse died? No. I would have to pretend she did. That’s my point. I can imagine how it would feel if it were me but I shouldn’t have to pretend my sims have emotions they don’t. I remember watching a sims 4 LP where the youtuber said her sim was “feeling sad and emotional’ to fit in with her story: except her sims emotion was happy!
>
> I think Will Wright hit the nail on the head. Exploring a less than perfect state is more interesting for many than exploring a perfect utopia. Of course not everyone likes that and that’s okay, I imagine they enjoy the sims 4.
i agree on everything you just said! in the sims 2, consequences were much bigger and I think that was a good thing. You know if the pizza man was late he would have to pay extra for that and such. I miss those things.
> I run into TS4 burnout sometimes and I find if i've been playing the game alot then I get sick of it, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the game. It's just a personal thing for me, I get the exact same when playing games on my xbox that I get bored of after a while. Don't get me wrong I understand that TS4 isn't for anyone but I do really enjoy the time I spend playing.
>
> HOWEVER. I can't play without MC command center anymore it just adds so much more excitement and if I ever want to change something up I tweak the settings and find myself having fun again. I also play with mods alot such as new careers, traits ect. At this point i'm less interested in terrain tools (even though I do see the want/need for them) but I would love a personality system where traits and emotions actually matter. Also more supernaturals as vampires is amazing!
this is what happens to me as well and it takes me a long time to actually get back into the game. this rarely happened with the sims 3 though
Carry on folks!
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