Old characters vs New characters «1234...Next Go

LeGardePourpre

Hi,

We see these new sims every days but honestly how many of us know/remember their names and their stories ?
At the same time, who doesn't know Bella Goth, Dina Caliente, Don Lothario and Nervous Subject ?

What do you prefer ?

EnkiSchmidt

New families

- New sims are generally kept sketchy and thus easier to make my own.

- Returning families done by EA are often flanderized or downright wrong. If I have to adjust traits and outfits anyway, then there is no point in official new versions of old families. Even in the gallery a single player out of everyone who recreated the Travellers remembered that Trent's LTW was Become criminal mastermind.

- Returning families overwrite what we did with them with canon (Brandi being the Newbie's kid, the Goths having another child). Hands off my sims, EA! The moment you release them into the wild, they are no longer yours! Fire Emblem does it right by refusing to canonize certain pairings, despite teasing them in their mobile spinoff.

- Most of the premades we remember because of what the community did with them, not because of outstanding writing or story hooks. For example I had no idea who Bella Goth even was when Sims 2 released, because I wasn't active in the sims fandom and had loaded them once or twice only in Sims 1. There is nothing special about the Goths, they just got snowballed into Sims icons.
The Contrary and the Aspir/Bell/Una clan are on par with Pleasentview's townies in terms of character complexity/story hooks, but they arrived later, have fewer fans and therefore never became iconic. The Desiderata sims also did not offer the gameplay challenge the Brokes or Grunts came with, what might factor into the Pleasentview/Strangetowns popularity.
If the Sims 4 rebrand sims had come in a save that's sufficiently original/challenging, players might have attached themselves to them despite their bland backstories (they are all along the lines of "wants to live their (artist) dream outside the office job drudge").

Stutum

Both

It wouldn't be the same without some of the old ones, but the new ones are welcome in my book as well.

PlayerSinger2010

Both

Wouldn't it get stale if we only had rehashes of families we already know?

LeGardePourpre

Old families

PlayerSinger2010 wrote: »

Wouldn't it get stale if we only had rehashes of families we already know?

It could also be a mix : New members of Old families

Simmingal

Old families

I don't really like any of the rebrand sims

idk its just something about that "entrepreunial single ready to mingle young adult" story that keeps repeating for most of them and mehhh. does not inspire.

I like some ts4 premades though like pancakes and vlad and judith and such

but I feel ts4 premades really repeat certain sims over and over so ive had to add olive specter to end some of them

you know. only so many best cooks in town and rising stars and nerds at once before someone has to get eliminated from the race

and well i just prefer ts2 premades cause its more drama and there is some family connections stuff and actual stories + I like my nice problematic strangetown soo yeah.

vote is very much old premades

that being said i dont wish for them to add old premades to ts4 i already made them

i just want them to make new premade families but with same story depth

no more " this sims whole life is their career and they like grilled cheese i guess"

DoodlyDoofus

Both

It's important to have older legacy families be represented in the Sims. Problem with this is the fact that they only seem to rely on the SAME families over and over. Personally I'd like to have seen Jessica Talon or Elvira Slayer make an appearance in the Sims 4 Vampire Pack.

VeeDub

None

I don't care anything about any of the pre-mades, old or new. Their stories (if they have any) don't affect my sims, my worlds, or my play in any way whatsoever. It just isn't that sort of game for me.

AmeliaTodd

None

Actually if we are talking purely from the perspective of a sims4 player it's none. With the exception of Vlad. With Vlad I feel the developers did pretty good fleshed out backstory that doesn't requires much of looking around for info in other places outside the game. He is obviously the founder of the vampire pack world, which makes him quite central character to that world, plus the fact that he at least used to get around and is uniquely shaped both of which made him pretty memorable for me. Almost similarly important is Erwin, but due to various game mechanics, sometimes I forget he exists. Missed opportunity were the Roswells imo.

For the characters from the previous games there is nothing interesting or informative about them: Caliendes and Lothario are in for some drama, ok whatever never cared for that much. The Goths have black house and are in an impoverished state and are obviously a nod to Addams family, I actually seldom see them at all in the game, which is also a big factor I think in getting attached to someone. The only additional factor that does for these families is that people who were attached to them in previous games might like to see them again (or not considering how many didn't like the idea of the alternative universe and different skin colors). Langrabs kind of play more active role lately in the game and that's a welcoming change for me, still not enough for me to pay much attention to them, no different than the landlord interactions.

Bob seems to be favorite of many people due to promotional clips, but I had missed all that, so his existence makes no difference to me. In a slightly better position is Simeon Silversweater mainly because my sims always learn practical magic first, but again not much difference than any other townie, except he is dressed better. Charm family is obviously ironic, Emilia is supposed to be the most boring person on the planet and Darrel Charm more interested in bodybuilding than anything else and while Minerva does looks quite interesting and had potential, she is yet another more well dressed townie, plus I have a bit of love hate relationship with the Magic Realm pack and the fact that at one hand I don't have it in me to delete them, but on the other hand they are 'stealing' lot space is one of the reasons. I know it's a weird reason.

So basically for me Vlad wins them all and is the only character I would like to see in the next version of the sims. I would like less housed NPC in next packs, speaking as a rotational player who's goal is to populate the sims with self made characters.

simplyzoe

Old families

I want Bob and Betty Newbie still,

Nate_Whiplash1

Old families

I don't remember Nervous Subject, but I definitely remember all of the others. They are staples of my game---I can't even imagine a save without the Goths, Landgraabs, or the Calientes. I usually don't play them, but it's comforting to me that they're there nevertheless

cytnl

None

I started playing the Sims with 4, and it was already several EPs in (I think it was up to GF), so I have little to no attachment to any of the premades. I have small soft spots for any that read as queer in gender-specific ways, and if they ever add sexualities that are not merely straight/gay/lesbian, that would also probably interest me. (I mean explicitly, not just implied by traits.) But that's in part because I'm both non-binary and demisexual, so I'd like to see people like me.

I never actually play premades, though, only my own sims, since I also don't usually play romance as I don't think/feel the way someone not on the ace spectrum does.

texxx78

Old families

I played with Bella Goth for years. All my first years playing sims 1. Always her. She will always be my favourite no matter what. We have so much stories together

DaWaterRat

None

Granted, I started with Sims 4, but I never had any desire to really play any of the premade households. Sometimes one will marry into my own family, but that's as close as it gets.

Maybe it's because I'm a TTRPG player, but I've preferred my own characters over canon ones for a very, very long time. Mostly because I don't have to worry about how well I know them. They're mine. I know them very well.

SimsLady2000

Both

I like Both but my heart will always belong to Bob and Betty Newbie

Babykittyjade

Both

Actually I should have selected none cause now that I think about it I deleted almost all of them😅😅😅 I just want to make my own stories and families.

Gordy

Old families

EnkiSchmidt wrote: »

- Most of the premades we remember because of what the community did with them, not because of outstanding writing or story hooks.

Gonna disagree here. I mean yeah, families in Expansion Packs would have much less accessibility to fans than sims literally everyone playing the game had access to. But you had tons of sims with in rich and interesting stories, tangled relationships and enough vagueness to keep your noggin joggin. Don isn't just a player and adulterer - he plays a part few peoples' stories, all of his love interests have their own connections, and he even appears in later games. People were entranced by the Bella Goth mystery, and still are to this day.

Sims 4 really suffers because sims don't have individual bios (which was one of the biggest ways to convey a sim's personality and story), and they rarely have any lives outside of their house. They don't even know their neighbors or have any interconnecting plot threads, which would flesh them out and make them more memorably. We only saw this in Get Together (via clubs), Realm of Magic (sims had unspoken friendships or hatreds with some of the other sims in the pack) and Snowy Escape (Sentiments.) They were all very barebones compared to what we got in 2 and 3.

Sharonia

Old families

I picked the old families mostly because they have so much more lore behind them. The Sims 4 characters, as much as I do love playing with them were created with barely any back stories and it makes them less interesting as characters than the characters from the old games.

In the Sims 2 you can start a new game in a new neighborhood and from the start you are thrown into a world full of stories in each and every household. The relationships are set up just as the stories say they should be and the personalities are as they should be, everything is set up just as it should be. In the Sims 4 the household description will tell a little story but when you enter the household the relationship panel tells a whole different story. It's a story of laziness on the developers part and all it shows is that they couldn't be bothered to set up the stories and relationships properly.

Atreya33

None

I prefer my own characters. I like having my own sim interact with some of the premades as friends like the goths or the pleasant twins but that's about it. And those are mainly interesting because I remember them from previous versions.

The new sims of the rebrand are not interesting to me because I don't like the fact that only trendy young adults are on the sims 4 cover. I wish they had included children and elders as well, or perhaps a parent or pregnant woman. They are so concerned about diversity but don't want anyone who not hip young and trendy. That's why I intentionally ignore the rebrand sims.

GrumpyGlowfish

None

Having premades is a good thing. The old ones are iconic and well-known, the new ones offer insight into the new features of the packs they come with, and their bios are always fun to read. But at the end of the day, I still play with my own sims 95% of the time, and only use premades as templates with somewhat decent wardrobes when I'm too lazy to create my own sims from scratch, like the adult here, who is one of the rebrand sims, but with a completely different personality and back-story:



So you could argue that I'm still using premade sims in a lot of ways, but I'm not actually using them as they are, but recycling them, so to speak, and the same goes for premade buildings. Despite everything, if future packs came out without any premades at all, I wouldn't necessarily miss them.

Louise_G0325

Both

I started playing sims with TS3 when I was 12. At that time, I didn't really have access to the internet so I wasn't aware of most of the lore surrounding old families. I just played and had fun. The Goth and Landgraab families were the only old families I really cared about in the grander scheme of the game, but that was largely because they were everywhere in descriptions etc. With TS4, I have a tinge of nostalgia for the Goths and Landgraabs, but the other old families are meh to me, except for the Altos that I recreated myself to have competition with the Landgraabs when it comes to owning businesses and property.
I don't care much for the more recent TS4 premade families since TS4 pretty much lost me after the disappointment that is Island Living, but I do like many premades before then, especially those that came with GT. I haven't studied their backstories that much since there isn't much to study because of the way they were implemented and the fact that sims don't have memories, but I have the general feeling of knowing them and being pleased to see them at certain venues and events.

Kimmer

Both

I love both. I haven't played with a lot of the new characters and I don't even see them so often, but they interest me a lot. Eco Lifestyle folks I don't even recognize all, except Knox and Tina Tinker, because I don't visit the town much. I just ignore the whole EP mostly (except on my Eco Lifestyle save). I still like them a lot and I can't wait for more premades. They're so unique and I love their personalities. I don't expect them to look perfect and I love them the way they are.

ArcherDK

Both

TS2 Had some juicy drama going in Pleasantview, no argument there. But I am far more invested in new characters, especially in Vatore twins. These two have amazing potential in story telling. And as much as Goths are cool, they ride on their past glory. And don't even get me started on Lothariao and Calientes - might as well not exist for me.

Mstybl95

Old families

I love the old characters from TS1 and TS2. I loved how in TS2, there was already a scenario in progress and it kind of taught you about the things you can expect. I remember the first family I played was the Goths and I immediately clicked get married and then Don left Cassandra at the altar. Best intro to a game ever!

Now TS3 and TS4, I couldn't even tell you who any of the premade families are. I only just learned from a reddit post that TS3 had an implied cannibal household and how funny is that. So for me, I have no real attachment to the new characters.

However, I'm the creative sort and I've been making up my own background stories for the premades since TS2. TS4's dumbed down premades actually worked out very well for my story because in it, Don Lothario was only slandered as a casanova, but he was really a great scientist who discovered that Will Wright was secretly creating genetic mutations in the "code" (going from 2D to 3D). Bella Goth was the financer for his research, but Wright made her disappear. Left on his own, he was eventually captured. His memory was stripped and he woke up in Riverview (TS3). But he left himself clues and eventually was able to return to his research. However, since TS3 couldn't travel between worlds, he was trapped and had no support for his efforts. When the travel feature was finally implemented, it was already too late. Bella couldn't remember and was unable to help and the science facility held him hostage once more. He woke up a bro in TS4...and the rest is a sorry sack of a potato sim.

Jyotai

Both

Since I more or less skipped from Sims 1 20 years ago to Sims 4 now - I have no special connection to any of these sims. I do remember the Goths but only because they always seemed to be right next door back when I played Sims 1 but I barely interacted with them.

And that's kind of how I use these now too.

The new sims are super optional. I just had a thread asking who they were and trying to figure out how to even get them in my game. Now that I did load each of them into my save (One by one I put them on a vacant lot then evicted them) - I'm using both sets more or less the same way. They're filler townies for background stuff. The same as how I use the 'more visitors' CC from littlemssam. I just want more 'people around' anytime my sims leave the house - and this is just a large cast of 'randoms' who at least have coordinated fashion.

Hoverael

None

for the sake of making my own stories, some of those premades are good with some of my sims. although i am aware of some of the stories of some of the households in these pre-made townies, ultimately i don't really care. I'm looking to create a whole new world with my own sims, pre-made and ready to be put into the game in any new save after deleting those sims i don't have any use for and keeping a few others i do have.