HELP! I want to love The Sims again! «123...Next Go

sims2freak737

I've been playing The Sims since I was 12 years old and was addicted to The Sims 1-3 yet when it comes to The Sims 4, I find I just like it. I can play for maybe an hour at a time if that before I just get bored. I've expressed my concerns and frustrations on the forums with the direction the franchise is heading. Instead of trying to fight it, I just want to enjoy the game again which is where you, my fellow Simmers come in!

Please pass on any suggestions of things I can try in game or simply just something you love about The Sims 4 that previous games didn't have. I own all Expansion, Game and Stuff Packs so please suggest things I can find a way to fall in love with The Sims 4 as I used to be with The Sims!

83bienchen

Maybe you can tell us a little about your play style? It's hard to suggest what would interest you without knowing what you loved about previous iterations of the game.

texxx78

I used to be you i couldn't play more than a hour (when i get to that) and was constantly restarting.

But my issues may not be yours... there were two things that, for me, didn't work in sims 4:
1) in sims 3 i used to play a random sim and just go with the flow. I guided my play through wishes (that were much more complex) and the sims themselves, because they had stronger personalities.
2) while i also have almost all packs, i tended to play much more with the content i thought i liked more

My work around:
1) now i make up the stories for my sims. I don't care about wishes and i don't expect my sims to react to nothing (while now i have found that they do react, just less than before, and it's a good surprise when they do). I think about what i want to do and, because i have so much content, the possibilities are almost endless. I don't think about the sim's whole story in advance. I just need to think about what to do next.
2) i have a huge list with all the features and gameplay objects from all the packs i own. This list helps me to remember about everything i have available and stimulates my imagination to invent the storyline.

And i play slowly and enjoy each moment. Playing slowly also helps me make my storyline as it goes.

At the moment, i am enjoying the sims more than ever!

sims2freak737

83bienchen wrote: »

Maybe you can tell us a little about your play style? It's hard to suggest what would interest you without knowing what you loved about previous iterations of the game.

Truthfully I've always been a rather vanilla in my games. I know that already sounds boring but that is how I love to play haha I don't tend to try challenges or anything. I love more in depth family gameplay. Watching Sims age up and succeed or fail in life.

sims2freak737

telmarina wrote: »

I used to be you i couldn't play more than a hour (when i get to that) and was constantly restarting.

But my issues may not be yours... there were two things that, for me, didn't work in sims 4:
1) in sims 3 i used to play a random sim and just go with the flow. I guided my play through wishes (that were much more complex) and the sims themselves, because they had stronger personalities.
2) while i also have almost all packs, i tended to play much more with the content i thought i liked more

My work around:
1) now i make up the stories for my sims. I don't care about wishes and i don't expect my sims to react to nothing (while now i have found that they do react, just less than before, and it's a good surprise when they do). I think about what i want to do and, because i have so much content, the possibilities are almost endless. I don't think about the sim's whole story in advance. I just need to think about what to do next.
2) i have a huge list with all the features and gameplay objects from all the packs i own. This list helps me to remember about everything i have available and stimulates my imagination to invent the storyline.

And i play slowly and enjoy each moment. Playing slowly also helps me make my storyline as it goes.

At the moment, i am enjoying the sims more than ever!

That sounds similar to how I play as well. I find the normal lifespan is too short but the long is too long Haha I definitely utilized the wants and fears in Sims 2 and the wishes in Sims 3. The whims just don't do it for me...

Loanet

I'm a completionist. I started in a poor little apartment this time though and my Sims will have to make a lot of money before they can go and explore the world.

asimbsim

Mods are your friend with TS4! And a bit of random decision making to keep sims and stories unique and interesting, so they encourage you to play in different ways than you normally would, with sims with different traits than you would normally choose. There are some adult mods we cant talk about here, but they add a whole new level of realism and depth to games, from woohoo to pregnancy to special 'juice' type substances and crazy levels of violence - really great if you want to play sims going completely off the rails!! You dont need all of them, but exploring which ones would suit you might give you much more depth to gameplay.

There's also mods like KawaiiStacie's that really add a different level. There's Slice of Life that adds so much stuff (I get a bit overwhelmed by it so dont use it often), but it has things like real tears, children losing teeth, personality types etc. And then there's the Explore Mod that I love. It adds more rabbithole options for your sims, so they can go off to concerts, or go out on dates, or go trick or treating, which I find really great for adding activities for teens especially.

Mods arent for everyone, I didn't have any in previous versions of The Sims. But for TS4 I've found them so amazing and helpful in keeping me interested and adding that much needed depth, they're definitely worth exploring

SimTrippy

asimbsim wrote: »

Mods are your friend with TS4! And a bit of random decision making to keep sims and stories unique and interesting, so they encourage you to play in different ways than you normally would, with sims with different traits than you would normally choose. There are some adult mods we cant talk about here, but they add a whole new level of realism and depth to games, from woohoo to pregnancy to special 'juice' type substances and crazy levels of violence - really great if you want to play sims going completely off the rails!! You dont need all of them, but exploring which ones would suit you might give you much more depth to gameplay.

There's also mods like KawaiiStacie's that really add a different level. There's Slice of Life that adds so much stuff (I get a bit overwhelmed by it so dont use it often), but it has things like real tears, children losing teeth, personality types etc. And then there's the Explore Mod that I love. It adds more rabbithole options for your sims, so they can go off to concerts, or go out on dates, or go trick or treating, which I find really great for adding activities for teens especially.

Mods arent for everyone, I didn't have any in previous versions of The Sims. But for TS4 I've found them so amazing and helpful in keeping me interested and adding that much needed depth, they're definitely worth exploring

Yeah this. I played vanilla for soooo long until I caved and started using mods. And boy do they add life to this game 😂

mercuryfoam

One feature that allowed me to truly enjoy sims is the in-game storytelling feature in TS1 and 2. (I didn't like TS3's). I also like the memories in ts2. I'm like you I've been playing since 12 ts1 - ts4 got all complete gamepacks for each franchise. I get bored of Ts4 because I realised there's no in game way of preserving and rereading stories you've created. Generations pass by in a blur if I don't record them, and I gave each person such a nice backstory too. So sharing the stories you created or just putting them somewhere for your own personal amusement can make ts4 feel fresh again.

texxx78

sims2freak737 wrote: »

telmarina wrote: »

I used to be you i couldn't play more than a hour (when i get to that) and was constantly restarting.

But my issues may not be yours... there were two things that, for me, didn't work in sims 4:
1) in sims 3 i used to play a random sim and just go with the flow. I guided my play through wishes (that were much more complex) and the sims themselves, because they had stronger personalities.
2) while i also have almost all packs, i tended to play much more with the content i thought i liked more

My work around:
1) now i make up the stories for my sims. I don't care about wishes and i don't expect my sims to react to nothing (while now i have found that they do react, just less than before, and it's a good surprise when they do). I think about what i want to do and, because i have so much content, the possibilities are almost endless. I don't think about the sim's whole story in advance. I just need to think about what to do next.
2) i have a huge list with all the features and gameplay objects from all the packs i own. This list helps me to remember about everything i have available and stimulates my imagination to invent the storyline.

And i play slowly and enjoy each moment. Playing slowly also helps me make my storyline as it goes.

At the moment, i am enjoying the sims more than ever!

That sounds similar to how I play as well. I find the normal lifespan is too short but the long is too long Haha I definitely utilized the wants and fears in Sims 2 and the wishes in Sims 3. The whims just don't do it for me...

Oh i forget to tell: i used to think lile you about lifespans but now i play in short. Playing slowly and thinking about what to do next makes that span longer than what it looks 😂 and it's also a way to don't get bored easily. I'm now on my 4th generation!

Geralt_ofRivia

Honestly, I just use a lot of mods to spice up the gameplay. I used to play vanilla for the first few years of the Sims 4, but I kept getting bored. Ever since I modded my game though, the sims 4 has come to life. I use a lot of mods by deaderpool(MC Command Center), Kawaiistacie, littlemssam’s, bienchen, roburky, zero, simrealist and much more. It’s all about trial and error and seeing what mods you like. Some are purely to add depth to gameplay, while others fix annoyances with the game. The only thing with mods is that they tend to break after patches. The creators I mentioned though keep their mods updated regularly after patches, so I tend to use mods only from creators I trust.

sims2freak737

Geralt_ofRivia wrote: »

Honestly, I just use a lot of mods to spice up the gameplay. I used to play vanilla for the first few years of the Sims 4, but I kept getting bored. Ever since I modded my game though, the sims 4 has come to life. I use a lot of mods by deaderpool(MC Command Center), Kawaiistacie, littlemssam’s, bienchen, roburky, zero, simrealist and much more. It’s all about trial and error and seeing what mods you like. Some are purely to add depth to gameplay, while others fix annoyances with the game. The only thing with mods is that they tend to break after patches. The creators I mentioned though keep their mods updated regularly after patches, so I tend to use mods only from creators I trust.

Mods seem to be the way top add mode depth which is definitely something I'm interested in. I forgot to mention I do have MC Command Center and UI Cheats.

sims2freak737

Loanet wrote: »

I'm a completionist. I started in a poor little apartment this time though and my Sims will have to make a lot of money before they can go and explore the world.

I'm a completionist as well when it comes to games. I think that's why the Wants/Fears and Wishes appealed so much to me. It constantly gave me something to work towards but it still kept the game sandbox. I didn't mind Strangerville but I didn't so much enjoy the linear gameplay.

ParmaViolet87

sims2freak737 wrote: »

Geralt_ofRivia wrote: »

Honestly, I just use a lot of mods to spice up the gameplay. I used to play vanilla for the first few years of the Sims 4, but I kept getting bored. Ever since I modded my game though, the sims 4 has come to life. I use a lot of mods by deaderpool(MC Command Center), Kawaiistacie, littlemssam’s, bienchen, roburky, zero, simrealist and much more. It’s all about trial and error and seeing what mods you like. Some are purely to add depth to gameplay, while others fix annoyances with the game. The only thing with mods is that they tend to break after patches. The creators I mentioned though keep their mods updated regularly after patches, so I tend to use mods only from creators I trust.

Mods seem to be the way top add mode depth which is definitely something I'm interested in. I forgot to mention I do have MC Command Center and UI Cheats.

I was about to suggest mods too. Maybe try 'Have More Personality Please' and 'Meaningful Stories'. They are two of my favourites. They improve the personality aspect a bit. Maybe check them out if you haven't already?

amberlunez

I'm not one to completely abide by challenges but I will get inspiration from the random legacy challenge when I feel overwhelmed. Like...I just accidentally got myself into having a family with 5 kids and didn't play for awhile, came back, and was like 'who are these people and what do I do with them'. so I went to the random legacy roller, rolled and maybe...re-rolled a few times...until I got a combo that I thought might be a good foundation to work off of for one of the kids.

mcrudd

I started playing random aspirations with my sims aging off, and then I would dress my sim and chop and change her look with each new aspiration so it matches, eg, archaeologist aspiration she wore the outdoorsy gear and so on, unfortunately I am stuck on the party aspiration now, had to ask for help on the bugs threads over at ea help. But other than that, I have been having fun, since I usually play the same things over and over. I have my kids pick random numbers to select the aspirations so I can't pick them myself. So far the hardest aspiration was the animal friends one, definitely a challenging one

Sindocat

This game isn't those.

It is it's own spin on The Sims, and I think a lot of dissatisfaction arises from comparison, coupled with nostalgia.

Jettison expectations. Learn this game from scratch to see what it does and how it does it.

I have gotten the most out of it by starting with just the base game, then gradually adding and exploring one pack at a time in depth.

Wanting to have the same excitement you recall having had as a child is kind of a trap. You'll appreciate different things now.

Come at it without expectation, and discover what those are.

jimbbq

Perhaps one thing you can try is to pick two key features from any random packs mix them up for new stories/gameplay . Eg I have flower arrangements from seasons and retail from get to work to run a florist store.

I do agree that ts3 sims have stronger personality and better wish system which guide our game. I miss that.

SimTrippy

jimbbq wrote: »

Perhaps one thing you can try is to pick two key features from any random packs mix them up for new stories/gameplay . Eg I have flower arrangements from seasons and retail from get to work to run a florist store.

I do agree that ts3 sims have stronger personality and better wish system which guide our game. I miss that.

Always when I try to run a store I get so frustrated personally. I think the retail mechanic is incredibly flawed because the way customers just kinda flood in and out doesn't feel realistic at all to me 😂 but I do agree with your suggestion - focusing on something you otherwise wouldn't play is always sound advice with the sims 4.

I always played families but after family 1000 I really couldn't raise another toddler. So I've been playing very different things and stories, like a military, a school, a group of YA living in a student house, a rich actor living the high life. It kinda helps to keep things fresh.

Even though, mods still make it better xD

jimbbq

The retail is not good compared to ts2. But if you can ignore the flaws it is still enjoyable. I am having a blast selling flowers. I do cheat to get retail points to make things more fun.

Without mccc I will not play this game. I lost count how many times i have to reset a sim.

Charlotta11

jimbbq wrote: »

The retail is not good compared to ts2. But if you can ignore the flaws it is still enjoyable. I am having a blast selling flowers. I do cheat to get retail points to make things more fun.

Without mccc I will not play this game. I lost count how many times i have to reset a sim.

You can also reset a sim and do several other cheat by pressing shift + your sim at the same time. I use that some times to freeze my sims celebrity level for example.

Goldmoldar

Wish I can help you or give you advice but Sims 4 for me depends on features that helped in my creativity and it just not there. The only thing I am happy about is my choice to play the older versions that for me is more advanced than Sims 4 and it is sad EA/Maxis could not expand on the features that existed in older versions properly.

jimbbq

One thing I am starting again is collecting. My detective sim is having fun collecting postcards. My archaeologist sim is collecting fossils. Never completed any collection in ts4 so hopefully it is fun.

sims2freak737

jimbbq wrote: »

One thing I am starting again is collecting. My detective sim is having fun collecting postcards. My archaeologist sim is collecting fossils. Never completed any collection in ts4 so hopefully it is fun.

I've never thought about the collection aspect so that might be something fun to try!

sims2freak737

mcrudd wrote: »

I started playing random aspirations with my sims aging off, and then I would dress my sim and chop and change her look with each new aspiration so it matches, eg, archaeologist aspiration she wore the outdoorsy gear and so on, unfortunately I am stuck on the party aspiration now, had to ask for help on the bugs threads over at ea help. But other than that, I have been having fun, since I usually play the same things over and over. I have my kids pick random numbers to select the aspirations so I can't pick them myself. So far the hardest aspiration was the animal friends one, definitely a challenging one

I like that you change your Sims' outfit and look based on her aspiration. I've played with aging off for a while but had to turn it back on because I felt like things were too static in my game.

jimbbq

Another thing I do with my simmer friends is family swap. We each create a family and a starter home and share through the gallery. Then we write a back story of the family and set some challenges. It is quite fun. This way you play with something you don’t normally do.