While it's fresh in my memory, here's a prime example of why The Sims 4 is a real mess of a game. To set the scene I was playing as Cassandra Goth and had her about to marry Don Lothario when I had Don bail out on the wedding. (A trip down nostalgia Lane.) Cassandra was as expected very angry at this. She stomps around for a few minutes then randomly starts making spaghetti. OK so I also turn to food in times of emotional distress so I get it girl, but I kinda wanted some drama. So I get Don to make out with another sim literally right in front of cassandra and she doesn't bat an eye lid. Her angry moodlet has been over ridden with a happy one (I guess because of the spaghetti? Which to be fair I can also relate to) but that's not realistic! I cancel all actions on Cassandra and get Don to make out with the other sim again and still nothing. Cassandra goes off to dance....Don is not fazed. He's living his best life. So I go to start an argument. I select mean interactions between Don and Cassandra but they just cancel out! Don and Cassandra just start random group conversations with other sims and all my commands are just cancelled out as soon as I select them. Then they sit there happily chatting to each other as if nothing has happened! What is going on with this game?! So an hour or so goes by (sims time) Don and Cassandra happily co existing, Cassandra is even dancing with Don's side chick like she has total amnesia then all of a sudden back comes the angry moodlet followed by some angry stomping around. So I think yay let's start an argument again. I select a mean interaction and poof! Action cancelled and moodlet is gone, replaced with happy again. I honestly give up! I wanted to love this game, (good lord I've spent enough money on it) but it's fundamental gameplay mechanics ruled by emotion buffs is just so beyond repair I just find myself quitting in frustration and loading either Sims 2 or 3 up for my sims fix. Please tell me Sims 5 is in the works and if it is, please tell me the devs have used sims 4 programming as an example of "what not to do!" Use the Sims 2 gameplay mechanics. That worked. Thanks.
*note* I do not and never have, used mods or CC in my Sims 4 game.
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Yeah, no thank you. I'll take a good game that has equal highs and lows over whatever that is supposed to be, lol. In fact, I found The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 to both be "safe spaces" to express anyone's self, even with the consequence/challenge they provided in their own way.
@silverfawn20 Your post has been pretty much my experience playing this game, too. It's like you are fighting to get enjoyment out of it. Eventually, in my case, I decided it wasn't worth my time/money any longer, and moved on from playing.
Sim Stuff by Pegasys
We've been complaining to them for years, but all they do is add more shallow gameplay and set dressings, nothing that impacts the core gameplay. I'm tired and bored of it
Nothing. Nothing happened. Despite his parents yelling about how much they hated each other, the child is still smiling as if all is still right in the world. Who cares if his parents are divorcing and are about to beat each other up? That picture in the room is making everything just dandy! How is that realistic? These sims are so superficial. Hardly anything gets them down, and when something does it doesnt last for long. And they immediately go back to happy happy joy joy. Even sooner if they live in a nice house! Its such a struggle to have sims just not be happy for one dang minute. If I break 2 sims up, I dont want them having a nice conversation about the weather immediately after as if the past 5 minutes of them fighting never happened.
You can take angry poop, proud poop, inspired poop, flirty poop or energized poop. It makes no difference either way and kinda summarizes the whole emotion system in a nutshell.
I think one of the most annoying things about the whole superficiality of it all occured when I was playing an evil character had to go around mean interactions, I went to Bob Pancake's house and saw they had a baby, while Bob was away I began to do all sorts of lengthy interactions so that Eliza who was my rival couldn't feed the baby in hopes that the baby would be taken away from them. Despite me even receiving a notification that the baby needed food, nothing happened in the numerous Sim hours of my character stopping Eliza by going and telling her knock knock jokes and using hand buzzer on her until eventually Bob came home to home full of Eliza's pee puddles (because she couldn't go to the toilet with my character telling knock knock jokes) and went to play Sims forever on computer instead of feeding the baby, then they just kinda went to do their own thing like nothing had happened despite the fact that Eliza was complete and utter mess at this point for having been prevented to fulfill her moodlets.
Just don't install the "color fix" bit that turns "happy" grey and "fine" green. The developer thinks it matches the UI better, but IMHO it just doesn't make sense (AND it bugs out Servos, since they are completely faceless when happy instead having green eyes).
*Hold up the hands*
I don't, but objectively it is the best game in the series, or at least the most detailed. Showing people that never played 2 or 3 the animations... The cooking one alone blows Sims 4 (AND 3) out of the water.
Just imagine it with modern graphics...
Thanks for this imput. I also don't like the color change. I will delete that file. Thx!
And yes, Meaningfull stories is really great!
I agree with you entirely, and would love a remaster, but isn’t this what a sequel should ultimately bring in itself though? Otherwise, what is the point?
The Sims 3 didn’t capture all of The Sims 2’s magic, but it still shot for the stars and looked to bring some massive improvements to the series. It did have instability issues and I had other gripes with it, but at least it had some actual game design. The Sims 4 barely even tried.
I like to build stuff
Instead of creating a remaster, I think they'd go pretty far by just playing The Sims 2 and delving deep into its core gameplay to understand what fans really love about it. The Sims 4 feels like its made by people who have seldom played the past games, if at all.
It does seem that the general consensus of the fans is wanting the gameplay of TS2 and the open world/customization of TS3 in the next game (which is what should have been The Sims 4). I know as much as TS2 remains my favorite even with its closed world setup, I think perfecting the open world is the way to go.
I think a majority of the devs not having played past games isn't even that far-fetched. As much as I know, most of them haven't worked on earlier games and probably haven't played them either. This would explain why their vision for the game is so disconnected from what the players actually want.
I am a bit sceptical when it comes to open world. On one side, it's a neat idea, but they really have to do it well. In TS3, open world caused a lot of issues for many players, be it empty venues, lag and stuttering or story progression making rotational play really hard to do (disabling story progression in the options wasn't enough to stop it completely). If they ever intent on bringing it back, they should try to sort these issues out first. Other than that, I'd also be fine with open districts in which you can visit your direct neighbors without loading screens, but would have one when visiting another neighborhood.
I like to build stuff
They don't and it's clear they don't. But I don't think most of them play TS4 unless they have to...it shows.