Do you find the Sims 4 challenging? «1234...Next Go

simgirl1010

I decided to start this thread/poll because of a couple comments in another thread claiming that the game is not challenging.

simgirl1010

Sometimes

There are some scenarios where I find the game challenging:
Playing a household of more than 3-4 sims. The pause button becomes my best friend.
Running a restaurant, vet, or retail community lot.
Planning and throwing a party or wedding. I remember being more stressed when I planned my first S4 in game wedding than planning my own real life wedding.

Stormkeep

Never

Entertaining and fun...absolutely, but challenging...not even remotely.

TS2 could be quite challenging, but in TS4 it is actually difficult to not be filthy rich before the end of even generation 1and everything that can kill your sims gives you the opportunity to avoid or counter it relatively easily (particularly in comparison to past sims games). Random "bad stuff" is also nearly non-existent in TS4 and where it does exist is, again, relatively easy to either avoid or counter.

I honestly cannot recall the last time there was any occurrence in my TS4 game that felt even a tiny bit challenging, which is why I voted never. The closest would probably be when my household had 3 toddlers and a baby at the same time...but that wasn't really challenging...just sometimes frantic. lol
The lack of built-in challenge is just a compelling reason to play following any of the many challenge rule-sets though. Choosing to follow a challenge rule set adds challenge to the game that doesn't exist by default.

I think perhaps, this is a good thing though. Sims players play for a variety of reasons and there's a whole cross-section of the community that doesn't particularly want the game to be challenging. They want to tell their own stories, not have the game block their attempts by inserting challenge that doesn't fit the stories they are trying to tell. For players who do want inherent challenge, challenge-rulesets can be used to provide what they want.

KiaraSims4Mods

Sometimes

It just depends on what aspect.

Zeri

Seldom

not usualy. i often have to up the ante as it were to get some excitement or challenge in my game. last generation i had my sim have tons of kids with random men, just to have a houseful of toddlers and no daddy to help out. stuff like that. but its also nice and relaxing to not have to deal with every little detail all the time if i dont feel like it, so i dont mind its lack of challenge

friendlysimmers

Almost always

yes aspecaly with aging fully off

stilljustme2

Sometimes

Stormkeep wrote: »

Entertaining and fun...absolutely, but challenging...not even remotely.

TS2 could be quite challenging, but in TS4 it is actually difficult to not be filthy rich before the end of even generation 1and everything that can kill your sims gives you the opportunity to avoid or counter it relatively easily (particularly in comparison to past sims games). Random "bad stuff" is also nearly non-existent in TS4 and where it does exist is, again, relatively easy to either avoid or counter.

I honestly cannot recall the last time there was any occurrence in my TS4 game that felt even a tiny bit challenging, which is why I voted never. The closest would probably be when my household had 3 toddlers and a baby at the same time...but that wasn't really challenging...just sometimes frantic. lol
The lack of built-in challenge is just a compelling reason to play following any of the many challenge rule-sets though. Choosing to follow a challenge rule set adds challenge to the game that doesn't exist by default.

I think perhaps, this is a good thing though. Sims players play for a variety of reasons and there's a whole cross-section of the community that doesn't particularly want the game to be challenging. They want to tell their own stories, not have the game block their attempts by inserting challenge that doesn't fit the stories they are trying to tell. For players who do want inherent challenge, challenge-rulesets can be used to provide what they want.

I'd like more challenging play, but with game play so that Sims can prevent or mitigate incidents by their actions. For example, if we ever got natural disasters in the game (floods, power outages and such) there should be a way to minimize them; an upgraded pump in the basement to keep flooding to a minimum, or backup batteries (especially if we get solar or wind power) to lessen the impact of power outages (maybe not enough power to run the computer or TV, but enough to keep the lights and refrigerator running). In Sims 3 we had the meteor strikes but there was enough warning to get your Sim under cover if need be, and Sims could make a lot of Simoleons afterward when cleaning up the pieces especially the giant meteor.

Simburian

Seldom

I make it so. I can play one Sim or eight of them. I like that you can choose your level.

Goldmoldar

Seldom

I myself do not see Sims 4 as an game that really challenges my tastes and creativity for some reasons in how the game is developed and the genre it is geared towards But it may excite some and it may disappoint some being it is what each and every player want out of it. My tastes and what I expect is different than the next person. Sims 4 does have it's moments but then for me it steps back as for example how CL was developed. Again this is my opinion and mine alone and those who enjoy it, enjoy it and those that do not, keep hoping.

simgirl1010

Sometimes

As @Stormkeep said I find it entertaining and fun. Enough to keep me engaged for hours at a time and always eager to resume play. The most challenging games I've ever played were the Age of Empires and Age of Mythology games.

LiELF

Seldom

I chose seldom because I think my answer is a little more complicated. I don't find the gameplay itself necessarily challenging, though there are moments when my Sims don't seem to have the AI to fill their own basic needs when they get past the yellow zone, and it can cause a disruption to something else I'm doing because I have to switch over and cater to them. I hardly ever play single Sim households, so I usually have anywhere from 2 to 8 Sims (the majority are teen and older) that I'm juggling at a time, and even that can get kind of tedious when they just continue to gravitate toward the same activities and objects to occupy themselves.

So I guess I find that most "challenges" in my game come mainly from fighting against the AI behavior to try to have my Sims perform to their traits and the personalities that I intended for them. But that's not really the kind of challenge that I wanted, lol.

But I still wouldn't say "never". I did have a Sim die and I made his widow determined to bring him back from the dead by going kind of "witchy" and obsessed and making the ambrosia, so I had to find all of the ingredients and raise her skills and everything, and in the end, it was satisfying. I also found some great challenge in sending large, full households into the jungle without being fully prepared to see if they can make it all the way to the temple and back without going back to their lot. They had to camp out and eat from the cooler and pee in bushes and everything, and I randomized and rotated who did the temple puzzles, and that turned out to be some of the best gameplay I've had with sims 4. The only problem was, again, the AI autonomy because I didn't want to turn it off or it would be too easy to manage them, but I had to pause a lot to keep them from going back to their vacation house.

So essentially, I think we kind of have to create our own challenges in Sims 4 and the content is there to do it, but if a player has a hard time finding a way that suits their own gameplay, the game can definitely come off as unchallenging and too easy.

SimsFinest1

Sometimes

It can be challenging if you make it that way. Playing legacy or baby challenges add some spice to it. Playing enormous households will also do the trick. Regular gameplay isnt in my opinion.

musteni

Seldom

It depends what I'm doing but usually no. I rarely play challenges or try to max things because that's not what I want in my game. I would like a bit more randomness and danger/death threat though. Also it would be nice if making sims happy was more of a challenge.

Cupid

Never

It's a very easy game. Of course it's possible to make things harder by imposing rules on your gameplay or banning yourself from doing certain things but to me that doesn't count.

That's not necessarily a good or bad thing; there are games that I reach for when I want to be challenged and there are games I reach for when I want to be mindless. This is simply one of the latter.

ListentoToppDogg

Seldom

Not really, and I say this as someone who plays large households. Nothing is really that hard to achieve. Kids becoming A students is just a matter of making sure they do their homework everyday. Getting promoted at work is simple, just do all of your necessary tasks before the next work day. Give a toddler a tablet and they can max all but one of their skills by themselves. Keep pets well fed and they're good to do whatever they want. And I never have issues with bills or anything of the sort.

So no, I don't find the game hard at all. The most recent difficult task I had with the game was getting my Sims to become celebrities with Get Famous, and even that wasn't all too challenging tbh.

Writin_Reg

Sometimes

I do not believe a game always has to be challenging - as long as it is fun for the player. For me the fun factor is the most important aspects of the game.

Likewise I also believe that the challenge and or fun factor of the game depends on the individual that plays the game that finds at least some of what they are seeking in the game they are playing to make it most enjoyable.

In a game like the Sims series - some challenges come out of the ability of the game to be modded, or acceptable of player made content to offer more of what some players like - as well as to offer the same satisfactions to some player using just what is offered from the game itself - and I find the Sims series has pretty much always delivered all of this. It can be more challenging sometimes when one does play vanilla for some players and yet offer much less stress to those who seek their own type of challenges or less from player made content.

To me the Sims series is capable of being many things to many players because of it's versatility to fall within many ranges of ease or difficulty if one just seeks it out. The player can chose to make it harder or easier because of it's very design and the players imagination. Nothing is locked or wrote in stone.

Unlike so many games out there there are no iron clad rules on playing the Sims and why I believe so many age ranges find a fondness in the Sims series not found in most games for so many years. It can be what a player wants it to be.

Not that all people will agree - I am sure - it is what I have always seen in the Sims since the first game and continues for me right up to todays game.

WildIrishBanshee

Sometimes

I find it's just the right amount of challenge - but it's easy to opt out of the more challenging aspects. I also feel that "challenging" is very subjective - what I find challenging, someone else may find easy.

Hermitgirl

Sometimes

For me it's sometimes depending on what I set up so that will be my answer. I don't play it that way often however but I know the game can be challenging if I want it to be. If I want to play challenging I play a fuller house, and limit their lifespan. Maybe give their house traits that cause more chaos... but I rarely do that and only if I just want to play differently now and then. It's stressful play for me and that's okay sometimes.

Frankly though I like the option for it to not be very challenging, pacing wise at least because I want to tell stories here, or just enjoy the game as is. I want it to turn out the way I want it too for the most part with few wrenches thrown into what I see playing out.

I also find challenge in figuring out dynamics built into the game .. as in what do I learn to make this playthrough easier or more productive faster for my sim.. or how do I make their lives most miserable?
I guess the simplest example to give is when you start playing the game you know if you send your sim to the bathroom their hygiene will drop. So you figure out if you send your sims to the bathroom first then the shower it will give you the best outcome. Sure you don't have to do it that way but you can.
There are lots of things like this in this game.. from what fertilizer is best (just mentioned that in another post)... to do I really need to send my sim to the active career for them to progress and under what instances? To how do different traits respond to the same environment.. or changing environments? I know that might not sound challenging to some but it's fun for me.

February11

Seldom

The only challenging thing is getting the Sims to do what you want them to do!

vancanuckfan86

Never

Nope - I don't find the game challenging. I don't use cheats and usually decided on a Sims career and career level before they are a young adult to make the game a bit more challenging for me. But even when my Sims work low level jobs I don't find much of a challenge in the game. Still enjoy it though!

luthienrising

Sometimes

Seldom, but that's okay. It's not why I play Sims. I play to create.

brenleedee

Sometimes

The game play is not challenging really at all, but when you spent almost 7 hours on a build and your game freezes...that right there is a challenge

Pegasys

Seldom

I do wish the game were more challenging, but like @Stormkeep said, there are ways to create challenge, especially by, well, playing challenges I have been doing this recently and it's been a lot of fun. I've also been having a lot of fun with the creative aspect recently, in particular, building.

I think more than challenging per say, is that I wish the game was more unpredictable. More potential outcomes -- that could be mitigated if necessary but create a sense of curiosity in how the game/story will unfold.

So_Money

Never

I think I may have kicked this off with my comments in another thread yesterday haha.

Anyway, I don’t find it challenging, but I think that’s part of TS4’s charm. It’s not in competition with “challenging” games. It’s a whole separate deal. Part of the reason I derive enjoyment out of TS4 is its chill nature.

With that said I’d like it if it wasn’t so easy to fly up the career ladder and max out relationships in one conversation.

LadyKyn

It's as challenging as you can make it out to be since it'll definitely vary by different players.

I think back to the first sims game and I wouldn't call it challenging as 'frustrating' would be a good word for it, since this is a sandbox style game. What I tend to find challenging is when it takes me more than multiple tries to defeat a boss in whatever game I may have played or using some strategy. Don't think I've ever found a challenge in any sims game. Think the only thing that comes to mind game mechanic wise is trying to maintain relationships in the first and second games, which I tended to struggle with since relationships dropped so easily.

Might have my sim start off with 0$ or 500 and see how things go there. Decided to not have a computer for my sim as she was only able to afford a tablet, so she goes to the library to use the computer to write her books.

simm621

Sometimes

I recreated the Brokes from sims 2. Didn't give any lot traits to the house, wouldn't let any of them gain extra money from non career activities and it was a real challenge. It felt like I was playing the sims 2 again.