March 15th - It's time for our Friday Highlights! You can check them out here!
Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

So is this officially the worst year for sims 4 ?

Comments

  • Horrorgirl6Horrorgirl6 Posts: 3,169 Member
    edited September 2020
    Sk8rblaze wrote: »
    It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

    With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

    I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

    Everybody would LOVE new stuff if we at least was up to have everything included in the Sims 3 base game. We're not there yet.

    That's part of the problem, but the big problem are the packs themselves .Just look at Journey to Batu? I don't think the base game would help it.We would still have a bad pack.
  • CamkatCamkat Posts: 2,329 Member
    I think it's been the worst year for them. I liked Tiny Living, LOVED Eco, didn't buy Knitting and I'm loving Journey to Batuu. :D So I'm basically the opposite of what most people like. I've also never bought so many packs in one year and it's the first time I haven't waited for sales (minus ROM). It was personally the best year for me, but I can see how it's been bad for them. It's been a PR mess and it started with the 20th anniversary. This year probably could have been better and more forgiving if they hadn't handled some of the issues that came up so poorly. They tried to keep everything going and "big surprises" but some of that maybe should have been postponed while they dosed some of the community fires.
    Origin ID: Peapod79
  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    logion wrote: »
    2020 hasn’t been great. Seeing how they’re 7 months into this pandemic and still haven’t adjusted to remote working I would bet 2021 will be much worse. I also don’t think they’re concerned with winning anyone back. They just put out a statement that affirmed they haven’t been prioritizing community requests and have no plans to start. A $40 dlc that doesn’t include any community requested content is sure to fix everything, at least that’s the mindset of the development studio.

    I interpreted that statement that their next EP will not contain anything of that, which was to be expected because they are almost finished with that pack, but it looked like they were willing to share earlier about what they are working on more regularly in the future and be more transparent. That remains to be seen though, actions speak louder than words and this pandemic have made communication difficult for everyone.

    I don't have much hope that things will change a lot in 2021 but I hope that the feedback that they have gotten from the community will make them reconsider what to make for the sims in the future.

    That was mouth service. Notice how there has been zero follow through with that and it’s been almost two weeks. Communication isn’t like game development, it doesn’t take time. These people can communicate and be super transparent when it’s convenient for them. Like when they’re gearing up to advertise the next EP.... take it as you wish, but they aren’t changing anything. They can’t even fast track some skin tones. Notice how it already shifted from this fall to before the end of the year. Nothing changes until the leadership changes. All of it.
  • Sk8rblazeSk8rblaze Posts: 7,570 Member
    Sk8rblaze wrote: »
    It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

    With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

    I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

    Everybody would LOVE new stuff if we at least was up to have everything included in the Sims 3 base game. We're not there yet.

    To play Devil's advocate though, The Sims 3 introduced a lot of new content all throughout its lifespan without addressing the "missing" content from The Sims 2. I know I was on TS3's forum and remember asking for more TS2-like gameplay/content, and have seen many other threads all throughout its lifespan asking for it, too. But IMHO, what ultimately made The Sims 3 a great successor in the end, looking past its instability, was the fact that most of its original, new content was pretty solid. Base game alone, having CASt/color wheel, CAW, and open world literally changed the game entirely.

    Let's say there is a The Sims 5. I just can't imagine people looking back on The Sims 4 with the same regard they hold for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. It's always been a weak link in the series, and the new/original content it introduces just isn't fun, innovative, or impactful in the slightest IMO.
  • ChazzzyChazzzy Posts: 7,166 Member
    I’m surprised to hear that so many people did not like Discover University because I loved it! I don’t let my Sims live on campus so maybe that’s why lol
  • PeralPeral Posts: 873 Member
    To be honest the problems aren't because the stuff is new.The problem is they are not creative, and are base on trends .

    Honestly I think the Star Wars pack is the pack that demands the most creative thinking of all the packs from the player
  • InuMiroLoverInuMiroLover Posts: 1,184 Member
    Not an entertaining year for me.

    Tiny Living? Meh whatever.

    Eco Lifestyle? Alright I guess.

    Nifty Knitting? Please no more community voting.

    Star Wars? *Tosses into the trash*

    Im hoping our future EP makes up for this year but my hopes arent high.

  • SimAlexandriaSimAlexandria Posts: 4,845 Member
    Chazzzy wrote: »
    I’m surprised to hear that so many people did not like Discover University because I loved it! I don’t let my Sims live on campus so maybe that’s why lol

    I played once on campus, once not, I didn't like it either way haha. For me it was missing more active universtiy play. I would have enjoyed it if I could follow them into class. But it's just a bunch of rabbit holes to me haha. THe homework was fun, but no diff really than other freelance careers etc, just a list of stuff to check off. I wanted something more immersive haha!
  • CamkatCamkat Posts: 2,329 Member
    logion wrote: »
    2020 hasn’t been great. Seeing how they’re 7 months into this pandemic and still haven’t adjusted to remote working I would bet 2021 will be much worse. I also don’t think they’re concerned with winning anyone back. They just put out a statement that affirmed they haven’t been prioritizing community requests and have no plans to start. A $40 dlc that doesn’t include any community requested content is sure to fix everything, at least that’s the mindset of the development studio.

    I interpreted that statement that their next EP will not contain anything of that, which was to be expected because they are almost finished with that pack, but it looked like they were willing to share earlier about what they are working on more regularly in the future and be more transparent. That remains to be seen though, actions speak louder than words and this pandemic have made communication difficult for everyone.

    I don't have much hope that things will change a lot in 2021 but I hope that the feedback that they have gotten from the community will make them reconsider what to make for the sims in the future.

    That was mouth service. Notice how there has been zero follow through with that and it’s been almost two weeks. Communication isn’t like game development, it doesn’t take time. These people can communicate and be super transparent when it’s convenient for them. Like when they’re gearing up to advertise the next EP.... take it as you wish, but they aren’t changing anything. They can’t even fast track some skin tones. Notice how it already shifted from this fall to before the end of the year. Nothing changes until the leadership changes. All of it.

    To be fair though, the end of the year probably is the end of fall for them. Fall ends on Dec.21. That's mighty close to Christmas and I'd bet they go on holiday for a few weeks around Christmas too, that would then make Fall the end of the year. I don't consider them saying a "fall update" and "before the end of the year" vastly different considering the dates.

    I also don't see the point of them fast tracking a skin tone or two until they're all done. I'm actually kind of hoping this involves a colour wheel or sliders and that's why it is taking so long.
    Origin ID: Peapod79
  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    Camkat wrote: »
    logion wrote: »
    2020 hasn’t been great. Seeing how they’re 7 months into this pandemic and still haven’t adjusted to remote working I would bet 2021 will be much worse. I also don’t think they’re concerned with winning anyone back. They just put out a statement that affirmed they haven’t been prioritizing community requests and have no plans to start. A $40 dlc that doesn’t include any community requested content is sure to fix everything, at least that’s the mindset of the development studio.

    I interpreted that statement that their next EP will not contain anything of that, which was to be expected because they are almost finished with that pack, but it looked like they were willing to share earlier about what they are working on more regularly in the future and be more transparent. That remains to be seen though, actions speak louder than words and this pandemic have made communication difficult for everyone.

    I don't have much hope that things will change a lot in 2021 but I hope that the feedback that they have gotten from the community will make them reconsider what to make for the sims in the future.

    That was mouth service. Notice how there has been zero follow through with that and it’s been almost two weeks. Communication isn’t like game development, it doesn’t take time. These people can communicate and be super transparent when it’s convenient for them. Like when they’re gearing up to advertise the next EP.... take it as you wish, but they aren’t changing anything. They can’t even fast track some skin tones. Notice how it already shifted from this fall to before the end of the year. Nothing changes until the leadership changes. All of it.

    To be fair though, the end of the year probably is the end of fall for them. Fall ends on Dec.21. That's mighty close to Christmas and I'd bet they go on holiday for a few weeks around Christmas too, that would then make Fall the end of the year. I don't consider them saying a "fall update" and "before the end of the year" vastly different considering the dates.

    I also don't see the point of them fast tracking a skin tone or two until they're all done. I'm actually kind of hoping this involves a colour wheel or sliders and that's why it is taking so long.

    Heavens no, if I was talking about a skin tone or two that could have been start-to-finish done the day they released the statement. We know they aren’t making a skin tone slider. If that were the case they had the perfect opportunity to say that (since they promise transparency and communication after all) and they instead stated they’re just adding more. If a CC artist can make a great set of skins there’s no reason it should take this professional studio months to recolor a blank skin tone stencil.

    Sims 4 will never get a non-pets color wheel. They have said that several times now.
  • SERVERFRASERVERFRA Posts: 7,104 Member
    Of course it's the worst year, we have Coronavirus, & we're still waiting to get vaccinations.
    As for the Sims team they were forced to work from their own homes. They probably lost their muse to create wonderful packs due to the sickness of the world.
  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    edited September 2020
    To me the worst year will always be the one when City Living released. Although the GP's were okay. I just really truly hate that EP and even then I remember that I waited until it was half price to buy it. I should have spent the money on TS3's world bundle on Origin, would have been about the same but bigger worlds and more enjoyment lol

    This year though? Yeah pretty trash, but I did sorta like Eco Lifestyle....although it lacked real pollution consequences, but what's new for TS4...the other two packs I didn't buy and I have no intention to.
    mHdgPlU.jpg?1
  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    edited September 2020
    SERVERFRA wrote: »
    Of course it's the worst year, we have Coronavirus, & we're still waiting to get vaccinations.
    As for the Sims team they were forced to work from their own homes. They probably lost their muse to create wonderful packs due to the sickness of the world.

    Not really since they started working on the Star Wars pack in the end of 2019 considering they've been working on the next EP since then as well. It's just bad because it was a poorly designed pack, never mind the fact that it's a Disney ad.
    mHdgPlU.jpg?1
  • popstarsleypopstarsley Posts: 1,086 Member
    I think they’ve had some really remarkable BB this year, but live mode has been nothing to write home about for the most part. I really enjoy EL but agree it layered new layers on top of old broken layers and the number of bugs was not well anticipated.

    On a side note, all the shoutouts to the livestreams for Tiny Living, EL, and Knitting Stuff. 10/10. I really enjoyed the guru’s energy and passion that exuded through each of these live streams and I hope it is continued into future fun packs!

    (Although I have no interest in the SW pack, I am still flummoxed why there was no livestream. Since so many gurus appear to be huge SW geeks, it would’ve been a great opportunity for them to share their enthusiasm for the pack.)
  • Horrorgirl6Horrorgirl6 Posts: 3,169 Member
    SERVERFRA wrote: »
    Of course it's the worst year, we have Coronavirus, & we're still waiting to get vaccinations.
    As for the Sims team they were forced to work from their own homes. They probably lost their muse to create wonderful packs due to the sickness of the world.

    This is terable excuse.Why I feel sorry having to be force to work from homes.(Partly because of power-hungry leaders) Thats no excuse for lack of creativity, and effort.
  • Horrorgirl6Horrorgirl6 Posts: 3,169 Member
    I think they’ve had some really remarkable BB this year, but live mode has been nothing to write home about for the most part. I really enjoy EL but agree it layered new layers on top of old broken layers and the number of bugs was not well anticipated.

    On a side note, all the shoutouts to the livestreams for Tiny Living, EL, and Knitting Stuff. 10/10. I really enjoyed the guru’s energy and passion that exuded through each of these live streams and I hope it is continued into future fun packs!

    (Although I have no interest in the SW pack, I am still flummoxed why there was no livestream. Since so many gurus appear to be huge SW geeks, it would’ve been a great opportunity for them to share their enthusiasm for the pack.)

    Proavaly because of the backlash.
  • OldeseadoggeOldeseadogge Posts: 4,966 Member
    SERVERFRA wrote: »
    Of course it's the worst year, we have Coronavirus, & we're still waiting to get vaccinations.
    As for the Sims team they were forced to work from their own homes. They probably lost their muse to create wonderful packs due to the sickness of the world.

    Assuming they've had any muse in the first place. There's not a pack I would call 'wonderful', & I've gotten most of them. Great to look at, but none get rated better than OK. Too many bad design decisions, poor executions, and missed opportunities. I've made game modules in the past so know how tough it can be to get everything right, I also can recognize lackluster work when I see it, and TS4 qualifies.
  • Chicklet453681Chicklet453681 Posts: 2,428 Member
    SERVERFRA wrote: »
    Of course it's the worst year, we have Coronavirus, & we're still waiting to get vaccinations.
    As for the Sims team they were forced to work from their own homes. They probably lost their muse to create wonderful packs due to the sickness of the world.

    The packs have been in development for over a year, the "muse to create wonderful packs" would have been last year, well before COVID took over the world. So, me personally .... I don't buy that excuse.
  • HayleeSimsHayleeSims Posts: 124 Member
    Last time I was excited for a pack was when IL and ROM and those packs were so hollow. This year we barley had any useable content. EL is buggy and most can't play it, JTB is niche, NK is also kinda niche and only has two gameplay objects and TL is just a stuff pack that could have been added to Uni and we could already make tiny homes.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited September 2020
    Sk8rblaze wrote: »
    It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

    With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

    I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

    They figured out the new comers will buy packs that don't make any sense at all. Such as the lackluster IL, where they just threw in a mermaid and called it done. Yep, we threw in a life state, aren't you guys grateful? Where the game play is so small might as well sold this pack as world like in TS3's Store. No need to even call it a gameplay pack. Where diving is a rabbit hole in a closed world system...

    TS4's reputation is sinking so low it's packs are not even as good as the overpriced content in TS3's store. It can't even be compared anymore to any pack in TS2 or TS3, just some extra stuff sold on TS3's store is more in line with what these so called packs are offering. Such as buying a world in TS3 (some of them) where there wasn't much to do in those worlds, maybe one new object to use (violin comes to mind) and sell it for high price much like the lackluster gameplay of the new worlds actually sold in the TS4 EPs and GPs. So lacking in any new gameplay that last more than an hour or so, that we can't even compare them to Island Paradise, and or any other EP from TS3, or even any EPs in TS1, or TS2. They are nothing more than maybe a new world with very little gameplay in them like worlds in TS3's store. (but even that is an insult to TS3's worlds in the store).
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    edited September 2020
    Peral wrote: »
    To be honest the problems aren't because the stuff is new.The problem is they are not creative, and are base on trends .

    Honestly I think the Star Wars pack is the pack that demands the most creative thinking of all the packs from the player

    I think a game that is an adventure game can be fun, I used to love them before I found The Sims. I continued to play them for a few more years.

    However, I can think of some that were much more challenging and had to use that gray matter, such as Agatha Christie games, 'Then There Were None'. What did I do with some of the objects I found and put in my inventory.

    Or Dracula's Last Sanctuary, especially the last challenge, where I had to figure out the steps (literally) down to the final place, and then cross that life size chess board. Or game over, dead, killed by Dracula. (impaled) Start again, lol. No cheats, no tutorials, no walkthroughs.

    I remember it took my brain awhile to figure out how I escaped those werewolf things up in the room in the mainhouse where I had no escape and I had only like five seconds to figure it out or my Harker got killed, when they burst through the door I had blocked, lol, game over.

    Or when he is down in the sewer and has to swim underwater to get out of there but runs out of oxygen, game over.

    Yeah, I used to love Adventure games because they were a challenge. It's not much of a challenge to point and click an object and be done. Or in the Holmes games where when I tried to build the enigma and was cursing what had I done wrong?! lol, too late Holmes died of poisoning.

    If I'm going to play those in The Sims, I expect them to be as entertaining, even though I feel they never belonged in The Sims.

    ETA: And probably my most favorite for the times was Omega Stone, it was so much fun to get in that helicopter and steer it to a dig site. It was so much fun to figure out how to get out of a tomb when a wall closed it off. And finally (after 44 hours of guaranteed gameplay) for an average person, find the Altar and solve the last puzzle.

    I guess my point is does SW even offer the Sim being killed or out of luck and dying? I don't think so.
    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • alyssasim87alyssasim87 Posts: 1,277 Member
    yeah i think its been a pretty bad year for the sims. i think the stuff packs are fine. but eco lifestyle is buggy. it would be more fun without the bugs. and of course the star wars pack no one asked for. im nervous about the new ep that will come out. im hoping it will be better.
    my origin id is simkitten87

    Im a simmer forever <3
  • kemowerykemowery Posts: 370 Member
    I've enjoyed all the packs this year. I think the worst year for The Sims 4 was the first year, when they put out a game that was missing a bunch of things we'd expect from the base game, especially including pretty much anything for sims to do, because midway through development they realized that The Sims doesn't work as an always-online, multiplayer experience and scrambled to make a single-player game from the wreckage.
  • GoldmoldarGoldmoldar Posts: 11,966 Member
    Sk8rblaze wrote: »
    It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

    With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

    I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

    Everybody would LOVE new stuff if we at least was up to have everything included in the Sims 3 base game. We're not there yet.

    That's part of the problem, but the big problem are the packs themselves .Just look at Journey to Batu? I don't think the base game would help it.We would still have a bad pack.

    I agree if EA/Maxis had released everything from the packs into format of an base game the game will still have the same effects it has now, The game would still be gimped as it may run okay but I look at what EA/Maxis took out to make sure it runs okay instead of taking the time to make sure the game runs good even with the features still in. I have no faith for Sims 5 as EA/Maxis rep is tarnished starting with Sim City 2013.
    Omen by HP Intel®️ Core™️ i9- 12900K W/ RGB Liquid Cooler 32GB Nvidia RTX 3080 10Gb ASUS Ultra-Wide 34" Curved Monitor. Omen By HP Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX 32 GB Nvidia 3070 Ti 8 GB 17.3 Screen
  • SimburianSimburian Posts: 6,902 Member
    Sk8rblaze wrote: »
    It seems like this is the first year out of The Sims 4's lifespan where Maxis has implemented nothing but new, original ideas to the series. This comes at no surprise, given a guru has told us to expect that prior to this year. Is it a coincidence some are calling it TS4's worst year yet?

    With that said, I personally feel these original concepts are pretty... unexciting, to put it kindly. Knitting, stuff for tiny homes (which was obviously meant to supplement the expansion), and eco-living, one of the most buggy and, well... blah ideas for a pack that has also clearly not been gameplay play-tested enough, otherwise people wouldn't have NPC Sims rampantly stealing from their lots and such. How could that have passed Q&A? Is there still Q&A at all for the series?

    I swear, nothing has made me appreciate The Sims 3 more than seeing how low The Sims 4 has taken the series. World Adventures, Ambitions, Generations, horses in Pets, Supernatural, Island Paradise, Into The Future -- look at how many original ideas The Sims 3 introduced that turned out to be such fun additions to the series!! What happened???

    Everybody would LOVE new stuff if we at least was up to have everything included in the Sims 3 base game. We're not there yet.

    But every time they put in something we had before it is 🐸🐸🐸🐸 as recycled. EA/Maxis don't seem to do anything right with this community do they?
Sign In or Register to comment.
Return to top