Thank you for this opportunity to express in depth what many of us simmers discuss passionately with each other! I really appreciate your recent communicativeness and efforts to be responsive to players. It is very appreciated!
I am a sims 4 player (only) with over 4k hours played. I use all the packs (not kits) and play a heavily modded version of the game. I have used mods to correct for some to the flaws in the game and to add depth and richness that I feel is lacking, so I have thought a lot about this.I love and appreciate the game you all have made and only want it to improve!
The first thing I want to say in regard to increasing challenge and depth is that ultimately (and perhaps for SIms 5) the solution is really to split the game into two versions. I will say more about what can be done short of that, but i think a lot of the problems that players complain of related to depth stem from the fact that you are gearing the game toward too wide an audience and catering to the youngest end of the gamer spectrum has resulted in a game that is experienced as shallow and dumbed down for many adult players, and has to rely on mods to be at all interesting. In the Sims 5 I would like to see you create a "Sims Lite" for the youngest players, and a more robust, mature and emotionally textured version for adults.
An example that illustrates this is how the current Sims 4 handles illness. Now, a Sim gets a negative buff from some random illness, takes a swig of easily purchased medicine and is magically "cured". This is a version of illness geared toward an eight year old. An adult version would unexpectedly bestow a range of illnesses on sims that would carry a serious enough negative buff over a length of time to override or periodically impact other buffs, and make some activities impossible, and affect needs (ie, tire more quickly) . Sims would have to go the doctor or therapist or hospital ( if serious enough). There would be a risk of death for some illnesses (this could be toggled off). The cure would take several days and the illness could be recurring or chronic. Yes that requires finding a "sweet spot" of creating a hardship w/out being overwhelming, but this is achievable, perhaps with some option to toggle.
The other areas that need attention to create more challenge:
- Financial. It is to easy to make money and nothing to do with it once you have a lot.. It is too easy to make money off gardening, crafting books or paintings. These should be harder to accomplish. Rare plants should be that- rare - and truly hard to find- not sold at the gardening shop. Crafting items should take longer and sell for less especially in the early stages of skill acquisitions. Careers should be harder to start- you cannot just "get a job" but might have to apply more than once or accomplish certain tasks or achieve certain skill levels first. Once entered, a career should be harder to advance in. I use a mod that make it significantly harder to progress in all careers (by adding much more demand for achievements between levels) and it has helped game play a lot. Some work at home careers like botanist have tasks that can be accomplished in less than a sims hour routinely. This is waaaay too easy. Sims should have reversals in careers. They should have more unexpected pop ups that demote them if they choose the wrong thing or even be fired. Because hard work is not always rewarded in life- people get fired and laid off.
Real estate is too cheap in ratio to the salaries. So it is too easy to make money and to easy to buy real estate. B and B items are too cheap. There is only any financial challenge for Sims at the very beginning of a career and it evaporates quickly. In the theme of more random events that can have negative impact- how about financial one? A random tax credit given or random un-expected bill (how about some medical bills, hmm?). University is ridiculously cheap (from a US perspective :-( ). Everything is so cheap in ratio to income! How about getting loans and using credit cards, with the possibility of going into debt? Once sims have a lot of money could you increase options for disposing of it? Could Sims donate 250K to build a new museum or library, and actually build it? Could there be an actual way to funnel some of that money back into the Sims world somehow? They can't even buy a second home or do anything substantial with a lot of money. A downturn in the economy could suddenly cut sims salaries by half for a season, or a new tax rate siphon off some of their savings... some things that create actual financial challenge on an ongoing basis or intermittent basis other than the first days of starting out.
Emotional and Interpersonal- This is where fundamental issues related to traits, emotions and aspirations kick in. One big issue, as others have said, is a dysfunctional emotions system where buffs related to transient and superficial positive things (a good meal! A nice fire!) override more serious negative emotions (anger at cheating, sorrow over a death, other anxieties). The weight given to environmental buffs to override interpersonal/intra-psychic buffs related to significant life events creates a sim life that is shallow and unrealistic in absurd ways. I have resorted to a mod that gives more strength and more duration to negative buffs to correct partially for this flaw.
Because the emotional system (which is transient) is so dominant, the impact of traits, likes and dislikes and sentiments on actual Sims behavior is weak and imbalanced. As for "likes and dislikes" I do not need my sims to wake up at 2 am to applaud a table in their room- I DO need Sims' likes to be more consequential and to concern more important things- like who they want to date. Some attractiveness system to impact interpersonal connections - friendship and dating- would actually matter. In keeping with creating more challenge, as was started with the sentiments systems (why do sentiments seem to fade so fast?) relationships need to be more heavily impacted by the possibility of unequal sentiments and negative social interactions need to have more lasting (negative impact). It is way too easy to romance or befriend anyone, and again, I have had to use mods to correct for this. A caveat about installing more of an attractiveness system: I hear some people advocating against the bisexual bias built into the game and wanting a choice to make sims attracted to one gender (or both) as a choice. I caution against this solution because 1) It reinforces a gender binary, which goes backward from the direction I want the SIms to go in and 2) I like the element of surprise and unpredictability about which sims my sims might find attractive- which I want MORE of in the game, not less. I am not uncomfortable with the idea that sometimes love takes us by surprise!
There should be more negative events that randomly happen (I guess this is the thing behind people always wanting burglars?), because this is a significant part of life. I have emotional deaths disabled by a mod because that is just silly, but deaths due to fire, storms, illness, drowning, etc should happen more frequently. Maybe even more autonomous love relationship breakups when the romance bar gets low.
-Memories. Sims have almost no memories. Ruled by transient emotions, and no memories of their significant life events, makes them seem shallow and artificial. Again, I have to have a mod to correct for this. Sims should have some kind of memory system for events like past illnesses or traumas, deaths, marriages or relationship milestones, birthdays, promotions, personal betrayals, etc. Memories of a an event could offer a buff or an interaction ("celebrate promotion" or "share memories of loved one who died").
-Achievements and aspirations. Again, aspirations are too easy and often a walk through of a game feature. And what about negative effects if you are not progressing in an aspiration. Again the game should be balanced with a negative consequence along with positive rewards.We need more traits
- Traits. We need more of them and for them to have more consequence for sims' actions and interactions.Things like vegetarian are not traits, esp with such a limited number of traits. Traits should impact behavior more. Recent strengthening of this has been appreciated, but more can be done. Yes , I really like it that my sim can be annoyed by a cheerful sim! Keep thinking in that direction!
- More physical interactions/animations based on emotions. Can they cry in the arms of another sim? Can they cuddle in bed? Can they (please) storm out of the house?
- Richer game play can also be enhanced by fixing the generic lot problem. I've really benefited from many talented simmers who imagined and built all kinds of lots that expand game play. These lots often have to be classed as generic lot type, but the generic lot types are not available as destinations for dates, or won't show up as possible venues for Events. Can you fix this?
In sum, this all may be too late for Sims 4, depending on what what you can do with what's already built- although even tweaking helps. But from the get go, you folks will do players a real service by deciding with clarity what age group you are trying to market to, and whether a broad age range can really be served by only one version. What fits for a 13 year old is just not going to work for adults in a sustainable way. This could be a stellar games in two identities and two versions- one a kid's version and one for adults. Just think about it for Sims 5!
Hi! first of all, I am happy the sims team is doing this. Secondly, I wanted to read all the posts to avoid duplicate points, but I got overwhelmed. I tried to keep it brief, but...
First, different sims don't encourage different playstyles. A lot of sims feel almost the same, even with different traits. This makes them feel shallow, and furthermore, doesn't give you a reason to play differently with different sims. Likes and dislikes were a great step in the right direction, but it still doesn't give sims life-changing differences. I only start to like my sims when I make imaginary character values and habits for them, but it would be great if my sims would just be unique through in-game mechanics. Examples which I'm thinking of to increase this, are: 1. Giving traits even more differences, like even more interactions, autonomously behavior, etc. 2. Overhauling the whim system and make sure not every sim just gets the same whims, so you know what your sim wants, but they don't all want the same 3. Adding a friendly and/or romantic attraction system so not every sim will like every other sim. 4. Adding fatal flaws (sort of like the sims medieval) that can come and go randomly to your sim and really change up how you should play this particular sim. 5 Adding memories that will affect a sim for their whole further life. This is not a wishlist, just some examples of fixes as illustrations.
Second, the game is too easy to 'win'. Of course, there is no way to win, but the challenges the game presents to you are not that hard or not that meaningful. First, there is no point in getting super-rich, besides a beautiful house, there are no expensive meaningful things you can buy, so there is no point in grinding up to the top. A fix could be for example adding second/vacation homes or buying shares of community lots like the sims 3. Second, The aspirations are there, but the reward store is not a good reward for completing the aspiration. I don't want my sims to complete their life goal only for them to never have to pie. When I'm completing an aspiration the sim already gets more boring and then I would make their life even more boring by making their life easier when choosing these traits. A solution could be to add crazy things to the reward store that add new gameplay for sims you would otherwise already be done with. The sims 3 reward store always had some crazy stuff, and I would always choose this over the 'need-helping'-ones. For example, the teleporting pad and Philosopher's Stone were great, they added new gameplay and are just ridiculous(ly funny). But I'm sure the sims team could think of even better rewards for in the sims 4 Last, you are quickly done with skills. Once you are at level 10 there is almost never a reason for your sim to seriously come back to the skill (except when this is their only income). The only examples I know how to fix this are again from the sims 3, but I promise I don't just want the sims team to take them and make the sims 4 the sims 3, they are just examples. 1. The extra challenges for every skill in the skill panel, which are almost never already completed when you get to level 10. 2. The special opportunities you only get when completing a skill, like getting the ability to farm cheese, eggs, meat, etc. when you get to gardening level 10.
third, the town dies pretty quick. Most premade townies have interesting backstories and feel like they are individual people with their own dreams. But when you play for a while in a safe game, all these sims die and are replaced with their children, in random ugly (had to be said!) outfits, and randomly generated townies with no life (read: backstory) at all. How am I suppose to take anything seriously anymore when everything in the world is random and lifeless. A solution is to regulate the new townies that come in. Give them predetermined clothing and backstories at random. Generate more families, not just single sims and single parents with a kid. Or add back story progression, so townies families seem alive. Let them marry, move, have children, divorce, die prematurely. Or add back gossip, so you actually feel like other sims have a life too.
Fourth, you can always guess how everything will go I have done it countless times: imagined playing the sims in a certain way but then never actually playing it out, because I know it will be exactly like I already imagined. It is good to have the ability to create perfect storylines, but when everything becomes predictable, it drains the players' own imagination in order to make the game fun. We have to give the already expected events meaning and make the challenges exciting. This can be fixed in countless ways by adding random events, obstacles, etc. Just anything so you don't know what will happen and, even better, make it meaningful too. But please make it also mostly negative. The game is already too easy at many times and one lottery is enough. In my opinion, only when a sim can have painfully bad times, the good times will be truly meaningful.
Lastly, emotions still need to be better. Emotions flip too fast, are overpowered too easily, and that makes the emotions so much less meaningful. If a sim is sad because someone close to them died, they should not get fully happy even when they just got a baby and married. I have found a few solutions that illustrate what kind of changes I would like to see: 1. Make it so emotions balance each other out. for example, when you are also sad, you can never get fully happy no matter how many happy buffs you have. 2. Add combined emotions, that combine main emotions together if there are buffs from both. Like for example 'emotional' when a sim has both strong sad and happy buffs. Or 'restless' when a sim has both strong stressed and energized buffs. Or 'overthinking' when both inspired and embarrassed. etc. 3. Let emotions strengten eachoter. Confident and playful could for example support the flirty buffs even more when flirty is already the current emotion of the sim. And the embarrassed emotion could also strengthen the angry emotion when the sim's main emotion was already angry. And the uncomfortable buff can support bad emotions like sad and angry (like done in the meaningful stories mod).
Thanks for the opportunity to share our thoughts. I expect in no way that the sims team implements all the features I mentioned, also because this is not a wishlist (Spiral stairs and improved babies, anybody? ;)), but these topics are really important to me. I am hopeful (both inspired ánd happy) to see what you will do with our feedback :)
I appreciate that you are trying to be inclusive as much as you can, either by inclusion in game or by highlighting representation on social media (like Black History month or Pride month).
But to me and many other Simmers it feels like you are neglecting community of disabled people and neurodivergent people. There is a petition going around about disabilities in a game, and while I get it is hard for you to implement them in a game, you still haven't featured any disabled or neurodivergent content creaators during their specific months (Autism Awareness Month in April or Disability Pride Month last month). So the question is really simple: Will you ever try to be even more inclusive by bringing representation of disabilities to game or/& to social media?
In one of the past surveys you've asked as about new additions to CAS; vitiligo, heterochromia, burns, body hair and others. Will you ever add any of these features?
Community would love if you could make a retro throwback livestreams of past games like The Sims 3 or The Sims 2. Is it something you might consider for a future?
Recently EA added back in store two games that were removed from a store; they were added back because players of those games showed a big interest. Now the question is why this didn't happen with The Sims 2 or other Sims titles that aren't currently available in stores? Lot of Simmers want these titles back on Origin; the response was really big considering that #TheSims2 is trending on Twitter sometimes. The given answer by EA Help is really strange considering other facts (The Sims 2 is not on Origin because it is not supported anymore, but older games that aren't supported as well are still on Origin). What is the true reason why these past titles aren't on Origin and will it be possible to add them back?
Simmers are keep asking about features such as open worlds, cars, color sliders, improved babies, etc. Now the question isn't if you plan to add these features; the question is what features players ask for will never be added to the game?
Lot of content originally from DLCs was added to base game - from single items like hairstyles, clothes, objects to gameplay mechanics like recent free update of calendar. Why do you add in a base game content from DLCs rather than new original content created for the update? With refreshs of older packs, do you plan to compensate those items you've made free?
Male sims don't really get a content compared to female sims. Recently SimGuruRomeo told us that male sims will have plenty of new CAS items in Cottage Living, but the truth is sad - new masculine CAS is boring and doesn't add anything new to the game that wasn't added before. Why do you neglect male sims so much? Can we expect more new and unique masculine CAS in free updates?
As for clothes, kids and toddlers are really forgotten too, especially again male sims. They do not get prety much anything new. Can you balance the new CAS content for all life stages? Is it possible to create solely CAS items for teens and elders?
One of your goals is to include representation for various cultures, so more Simmers could feel represented in a game. But when you put cultures behind paywall in pack, you don't really achieve your goal, but actually conteadict yourself. Any kind of a representation shouldn't be monetized - right now, some cultures were added in a free update, while some others in packs, and that is wrong - why japanesse players have to buy Snowy Escapes to feel represented while hispanic Simmers can use the free update? This is also related to your recent survey about kits - people don't want to see culture kits. You are exploiting the representation with culture kits. So what is the reason you put cultures in packs instead of free updates?
Can we expect more community created packs like Laundry Day or Nifty Knitting? Maybe this time though we could decide about gamepack or expansion pack?
Why some stuffpacks contain much more content than other stuffpacks? For example, Paranormal has more gameplay than Laundry day - why? You can argue it is related to theme, but I would argue that Laundry day can have more gameplay, like ironing or changing bed sheets. There are lot of past stuffpacks that contain even less than Laundry day.
Kits are really controversial topic in Sims community - lot of people hate them, some people like them. There are a few questions about kits that should be answered:
1. Price vs. content - right now, it feels like kits are really expensive considering they do not contain that much of a content. What is plan for future? Lower the price of kits or add more content than they have now (and possibly refresh existing kits)
2. Price in other countries - DLCs in other countries (like UK or Brazil) are more expensive than in US. Kita are really noticeable considering players from these countries pay for kits same price US players pay for stuffpacks. There are ways you can can make sure that players in these countries would pay same amount like other players. So why don't you lower it?
3. The negative response - Kits got negative response from community. What do you think about this response?
4. Stop making kits - you confirmed a few days ago new kit. The response on Twitter was negative, and people were asking you to stop making kits. A days before this announcement players had option to take a survey about kits - and again, lot of people told you to stop making kits. Why don't you stop making kits? Or why don't you take time to actually listen fans what could be better about kits?
Why are vegetarianism & lactose intolerance (& some others) considered in game as traits? They are not personality traits and they take one slot that could be used for real traits. "Traits" such as vegetarianism should be taken out of trait system and included in something new, like lifestyles or diets & allergies
What is the reason behind making legacy characters like Bella Goth or Caliente sister lighter? Yeah, you will be fixing this issue, but it would be great if you could also explain why this issue happened in a first place
[b]What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?[/b] More depth in sims relationships (one-sided relationships, more CAS relationship options) and personality/identity (pronouns, compatibility between sims based on traits and likes and dislikes to give more wait to these personality features). Depth for townies through story progression and memory panel for sims to look back on past sentiments so I can see the journey my sims relationships have taken (if they were enemies but then became lovers I want them to remember that not just forget the second they are in love). [b]What would you expect from it?[/b] I would expect more depth to improve the relationships between my sims and make sims more individual. Adding challenge to the game would make the choices my sims make effect their lives more and have more chance of negative consequences like freak demotions or relationship break downs. [b]How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?[/b] The focus of the sims is to 'play with life' and to do that we need more freedom in CAS and relationships to create those stories and having things like compatibility or one-sided relationships would add difficulty to the way your sims interact as well as create more individual sims from the start. It would give new ways to play and create different types of sims. Story progression for townies would make the world come more alive and make me invested in their lives more if they were having their own families, marriages/divorces, and relationships with each other. Sentiments was such a great addition to the game, but it is really frustrating having to remember everything that has happened to my sims myself and not having a way at looking back on past sentiments and life events in a Sims 2/Sims 3 generations style memory system. It would add so much depth to the game especially being able to recall memories would give emotions more weight and make my sims more individual.
I'm in agreement with lots of other players when I say that relationships could be more complicated. How well you like someone is different from how well you know them. Sometimes you like them less as you learn more about them. The current friendship system doesn't represent this kind of relationship.
Also, romantic relationships could be more complicated. I'd like to see things like one-sided feelings, and old feelings for a former lover. I think that the romance bar goes down too easily when there's cheating. Love doesn't go away that quickly. Love and anger exist together. And, love might not go away just because a couple broke up. It would take some hard work to rebuild the relationship if your sims don't break up. Adding a separate romantic category for traits could be fun. It would be for the traits that influence their romantic relationships. Current traits like non-committal and unflirty could go there, plus some new ones.
I would like to see a couple more life stages. "Tween" would be a great addition. They would go to middle school or junior high. They could have "puppy love" and spend time with a date, but physically, all they could do is hold hands or give a peck on the cheek. I'd like the challenge of caring for aging parents to appear in the game. Late in life, sims could become frail. Stairs become tiring and difficult. They might need help from household members when it's time for a bath or a meal. Cooking together would be the only way they can cook. Grandchildren would be a source of joy for them, and grandchildren and other caregivers would benefit from helping their elders. But, social services could come and take your elders away if you neglect them.
I can't finish without mentioning disability. It fits right in with challenging gameplay. We need better representation, and it belongs in the base game.
personalities being tied to emotions: eg. when a sim has a negative sentiment towards another sim and they’re near then they’ll just get an angry moodlet which might not overpower the other moodlets and just be useless while in sims 2 if a sim was furious they would argue and fight and steal their newspaper and kick their trashcan (which can make them sick) i miss that. this was just a short example but there are many more. also sicknesses (potentially fatal ones too) and burglars would add consequences and can shake up a game. and the attraction system and gossip (with proper consequences) would also add more depth to the game.
how you guys could add more depth and challenge into basegame: -add more random tings that can happen (funny,sad and happy ones) -townies could invite my sim to party at their house -townies and friends could come visit more often -personality overhaul & more whims -trait overhaul and food allergies etc. to separated from traits -favorite food option&sims could react to their likes and dislikes more -random things & activities that could happen in community lots give my sims more reasons to leave their home lot for a while and go to community lots -jobs are too easy to get .it would be nice if some jobs had requirements that your sim would need to complete before they can join in them also it would be nice that not all the jobs would be available all the time and the jobs selection would change daily these are all the things i can think off right now :)
First, I want to thank you for giving the community an opportunity to share with you how you can implement more challenge in this amazing game. I want to be as clear and concise as possible with my response so that it can best help you with what myself and a lot of simmers have been feeling about what the game is lacking in challenge.
I quoted the below response as an addendum to my suggestions because this touches a lot on a lot of my thoughts and opinions on what the game could use to be more challenge. I hope this quote for emphasis helps you to really consider what this simmer is saying because this calls to the heart of what myself — and many, many, MANY simmers — have been harping on for what we feel the game needs to incorporate more challenging fun. From here, I will jump off and expand on more of ideas as it relates to this and other things. I've separated my points in two four separate talking points so you can best follow me:
Relationships:
As Pixelsimmer mentioned, relationships are just too easy in this game and makes it very boring to play when your sim can easily become friends with or get into a relationship with ANY sim in just a matter of a few sim hours. I really appreciate the likes and dislikes system you've introduced and would love to see you expand on it to have a much bigger impact on who our sims get along with. I know we don't have this in game currently, but I would love to see an attraction system be born out of likes and dislikes so we as players can gain a better sense of who our sims are attracted based on both traits and likes and dislikes. I want to be able to feel like it's impossible for my sim to become friends with a sim or become romantically involved with the sim if they have nothing in common and opposing traits. A family oriented sim should not be able to easily fall in love with a sim who hates children. Further, I feel like gaining relationships should just be harder in general. Filling up the relationship meter should take longer than it does now and gaining a relationship bar should be more challenging too. I know just saying "more challening is vague" so perhaps gaining friendship points should be tied to common interests and traits. For example, if sims have complimentary traits and a lot of likes and dislikes in common, gaining friendship and even relationship points should feel effortless after several friendly or even romantic interactions are carried out by the player. However, if sims have opposing traits and very little likes and dislikes in common friendly and romantic interactions should have a far higher probability of failing and one should see glacially slow progress in moving up the friendship bar or even developing a relationship bar. It would be fun to implement some wild card chance with how easy building relationships can be if a sim has the erratic trait. For instance, maybe with that trait that could be a chance for an opposites attract influence in building the friendship/relationship meter (or perhaps this could be a random hidden ability that a sim has — as I'm typing I kind of like that idea a bit better — where a small percentage of sims can have opposites attract relationships kind of like how a small percent of sims actually like fruitcake, lol!).
School/Careers:
Reaching level 10 in your career and getting an A in school is so easy half the time you don't even have to put effort into it and it will just happen in your game without you doing anything. I feel a lot of this ease comes from the career tasks being simple and easy to fulfill and as long as your sim goes into work in a good mood (also easy to achieve since it's heavily broadcasted what things can manipulate moods) you can easily get a promotion. School is even easier as your sim just has to do their homework most days and go into school in a good mood and they'll will rise to an A without difficulty. I feel more difficulty can be injected into both by having more chance cards pop up that have a heavier impact on your sims performance in work and school. As Pixelsimmer mentioned in their response, you used to really have to ruminate on what choice you made for chance cards in the sims 2 because you could very easily end up with a pay reduction, demotion, or firing if you pick the wrong thing. In the sims 4 this is never a fear because it's highly telegraphed the consequence of your choice. I would love it if the game no longer told you what will happen if you choose one way or another but if every choice came with a consequence that has noticeable impact whether good or bad (for example, mayber your sim made a good call and they got a slight 2-3 simoleon raise, or if they make a good call they're sent home early with only half the days wages or get demoted or even fired).
Similarly, the chance cards for school barely have an impact on your sim's performance outside of character values. It would be nice if a sim deciding to not study for one exam over another resulted in their grade dropping, or if even having poor character values made it more difficult for them to finish their homework or even turn in homework that is high quality enough to impact their grade. It would be amazing if those of us with Parenthood could see a return of military school or some sort of reform school kids with bad character values who are performing poorly in school get sent to. I just think character values, while a great addition, do no impact our children and teens enough to the point of making things more difficult for them when it comes to getting an A in school. By that same token, the school projects are completely useless. They can fasttrack you to an A, but there's literally no consequence if your sim doesn't do their projects. My A and B student sims hardly ever do projects, and they really don't need to because as long as the A sims keep doing their homework they'll stay at an A, and by the time you get to be a B student, becoming an A student is so inevitable why bother? Students should have to do their projects or face negative consequences to their grades (and we shouldn't be able to sell the projects for more than what you can earn from selling a homework book become, come on, it's already easy enough to make money in this game).
Finances:
I began to touch on my third point at the end of my second talking point, so I figured I switch gears to money. It's very, very, VERY easy to make money in this game. With literally no effort, your sim can become comfortable financially without doing very much outside of just going to their jobs and earning their salary. And as outlined in my second point, being promoted is so easy, so just going to work alone will reward you insanely well that it's impossible to not be well off financially before long. While I feel that a lot of my career suggestions will help to slow down career earnings to the point where it's a bit harder to make tons of money just from going to work, the rest of the game needs work in tamping down monetary rewards that require no effort from your sims to receive. Those with the bust the dust kit should not be able to earn ANY money from dust bunnies. Not even a few simoleons. The dust bunnies shouldn't be able to bring you rare relics worth thousands of simoleons. The way you can become rich off of dust bunnies is very game breaking when it comes to challenge, and I would like to see the sims team steer completely away from implementing anything new that just gives you things from being friends with it. Similarly, a sim should not be able to become independently wealthy from dumpster diving. Your sim at current can live better by fishing out things out of the dumpster and selling the items to their invetory than they can from working a job. That's ridiculous and should not be a thing. I would love to see it made far harder to find things other than burnt items and trash in the dumpster (it would be great if there were a way to make it impossible to pay to replace burnt items obtained from the dumpster — that way the player is forced to recycle them and can't replace and resell them if they like). It would be amazing if the chances of finding not only functional undamaged items would be lowered to a percentage in the single digits, but also for the chance of finding something like a 10,000 simoleon tv being so low that one could never depend on dumpster diving to pay their bills.
With difficulty with earning money being implemented in these ways, I would love to see you guys implement a credit system where sims can take out loans. Perhaps you could use the loan system from Discovery University to achieve this? That way our sims could experience the threat of the repo man more readily if they don't pay their loans on time. Would be great to see the repo man more in general when it comes to falling behind on bills. Perhaps after the lights and water are shut off, the repo man will appear then to start taking things to satisfy your overdue bills.
Traits/Aspirations:
My final talking point is traits and aspirations. I know there has been some work put in to making traits have more of an impact on sims and I can appreciate the work that has been done there, but I would love to see them come into play more. I mentioned in my earlier talking point of relationships that I would love to see them play a bigger factor into what kinds of relationships they can develop with other sims, but building on that, it would be great to see some variety in how traits are applied. Perhaps this is too complicated, but perhaps traits play differently when paired with other traits. For example, perhaps a clumsy sim who is evil could accidentally break an item that belongs to another sim and respond to this act of clumsiness by evilly laughing to themselves and receive a happy buff while a good clumsy sim in the same scenario might get a sad moodlet. This level of variety of sims having a different configuration of traits would go a long way in actually having sims feel different and unique on a deep level that will impact gameplay because now the player has a reason to play different sims with different configurations of traits because each of these sims will actually play differently. As it stands now, all sims play exactly the same because their traits don't have enough of an impact on how they behave and interact with other sims.
When it comes to aspirations, the biggest problem with them as barring a paltry few, none of them are very aspirational. I know this was done on purposes so that players could experience playing through different ones, but if you have the time in your life to achieve dozens of aspirations, I can't help but think that none of those achievements were actual aspirations. I would love to suggest perhaps recategorizing aspirations like you did with lot traits and lot challenges. Perhaps some of the current in game aspirations can be recategorized as short-term goals (that is not a catchy name for them at all, but I can't really think of a better name for them right now!). These can be easy to achieve short-term goals that sims can complete many of in their lifetimes. Even though most simmers do not like tutorial aspirations (this simmer included — and I would like to suggest making way less of them cause they aren't particularly fun or challenging to play through), I can see a lot of the tutorial based aspirations being recategorized as these short-term goals, and perhaps that will free up room to make the more aspirational goals more challenging with more rewarding rewards. Unfortunately, a lot of the aspiration rewards aren't really that rewarding and I'd suggest making many of them available in the rewards store to buy with reward points for all sims. I want my reward for completing an aspiration to be something that my sim cannot easily achieve or obtain anywhere else in game, and I don't think many of the aspiration rewards are rewarding in that respect outside of a few. For instance, if I max out the best-selling author aspiration, I can gain the ability to bring any sim back to life with the book of life — that's awesome! But the reward for becoming fabulously wealthy is I regain 10% on purchased items in build mode? That feels utterly useless to my sim who is already filthy, stinken rich. What if instead you gained the ability to buy and sell any in game properties? That would be so awesome and would add gameplay to maxing out that aspiration.
I apologize that this is very, VERY long, but I had a lot to say, and I hope you'll take into consideration some of my points. I'm excited to see how you will improve the game and I'll be even more excited if some of my ideas are actually implement in game updates.
> @Pixelsimmer said: > Hi! > > First of all thanks for this initiative! The lack of enough depth and challenge in TS4 has been a recurring concern of the community for years now and I’m hopeful something good will come out of this! I will try to be brief for the sake of whoever has to read through this (because I assume there will be hundreds of responses to process): > > 1.- Making the game more challenging and in-depth > * The root of the concern: What do simmers mean when they say the game is not challenging enough? As it is, it’s way too easy to create a young adult in CAS, give them a job, make them progress in it and reach the top level of their career in a reasonable time with no setbacks. If their work life is easy, so is their social and love life: there is no challenge building new relationships, making your sim be friends with whoever and making whoever fall in love with your sim back. > > * I think this breaks down into three sub-themes: (i) lack of unexpected events; (ii) social and career progression is too easy; and (iii) sim self-fulfillment . I will address these three below and then (section 2) explain how I would implement these in practice, taking into account that some simmers may prefer the game to be less challenging and that’s also something to take into consideration. > > * Unexpected events: certain unexpected events make your sims’ lives harder and also make your sims’ lives MORE interesting. Let’s be honest here: the best part of any livestream is when something unexpected and crazy happens and we are all SHOCKED and then the player has to see what to do with what just happened. As things are now, our sims never face any unexpected obstacles that are too hard to overcome, rather, it is us players that HAVE to create those hurdles, and that feels wrong. What kind of obstacles am I talking about? > * * Accidents / fatality: in previous games, it was rather easy to have a sim die from unexpected accidents. In the current game we get so many warnings that if your sim dies unexpectedly it’s almost considered murder by the player. You have to be VERY neglectful for your sim to die in an accident. Things such as: lightning strikes, getting shocked when repairing appliances, even death by overexertion, should have a chance of happening without any warning and at the first attempt (e.g. vending machine death takes 3 attempts, death by electrocution takes 2 attempts, etc. and you always get a warning so you know that if you force your sim to keep doing the activity they will die - this feels like murder rather than an accident). > * More dangerous fires and disabling the ability for our sims to magically pull a fire extinguisher out of their butt and extinguish themselves would also greatly help. > > * Other accidents: things such as burglaries, natural disasters etc. would also be unexpected obstacles for our sims to face that would spice up the game for the player. > > * Chance cards: chance cards should have more dramatic consequences. I remember in previous games I was actually NERVOUS to answer chance cards because they could result in your sim getting fired or demoted. Now, I just click whatever option because I know the consequences will be mild so I can’t even be bothered to read through them. And the only chance cards that can result in something more dramatic (like gaining fame or getting demoted) ALREADY tell you the outcome!! So there is no surprise element. > > > * Social progression: making friends and finding love is way too easy. I’m afraid there is no way to tackle this issue without addressing the root cause of this: sims’ personalities. Sims should not be able to make friends with just anyone; clashing traits should make it way harder for sims to bond; similar interests and hobbies should make it easier. And the same goes for love: using the preferences system, we could have a very nice attraction system that could be used to make finding love more challenging. Does your sim like your gorgeous neighbour but they don’t like your sim back? Find out what attracts them, and what interests them. Then have your sim work towards becoming an attractive sim for their neighbour, tweaking their appearance, developing new interests etc. > > * In relation to this point too: one-sided relationships add a lot of challenge too. It would be good if one sim could consider another sim a friend (or be in love with them) without the other reciprocating. Quite honestly, it’s a bit boring that all relationships are like that and it removes all the potential drama. Think for example, how about a sim that falls out of love with their spouse or partner for example? How about that high school crush? Why does it *have* to always be reciprocal? What you did with sentiments was a very good step in the right direction, but it would be amazing to see it in the actual relationship scores too. > > * In relation to the above and on the “social” and sim personality topic: it would be amazing if our sims’ personalities could become the challenge itself. First of all, it would be important to have more negative traits for our sims (flaws) and it would be very interesting if we had to always choose a flaw for our sim in CAS (because no one is perfect). You also did great with the Parenthood character value traits (which have a positive and a negative side and that you can get over time) and with fame quirks. It would be amazing if our sims could develop FLAWS and STRENGTHS over their life. Similar to what you did with lifestyles too, which I think was an amazing addition (because people’s personalities are not static and they keep developing over their lives!). These, coupled with the point above about harder relationship building, could even lead to a married couple growing apart because they develop different interests, flaws that conflict with their partners’ traits, etc. It would be our challenge to try to build that relationship back by having the sims work on their flaws, develop common interests, etc. > > * Career progression: reaching the top of a career is very easy. Further requirements for promotions, along with harder chance cards (see above) would greatly help. These requirements could be alternative and not cumulative. What types of requirements am I talking about? For example, in order to reach Level 8 of the business career your sim needs: (i) a degree in Economics or Communications (for those with Discover University); OR (ii) 10 friends; OR (iii) impress their boss in a preset scenario (dinner with the boss). > > * Sim self-fulfillment: at the end of the day, the sims is a game about making your sims’ lives happy (or miserable). Problem is: only the player is keeping track of it and sims seem unaware of it. So it would be great if our sims could have some sort of sense of self-fulfillment. The emotion system could be used for this, and could have a deeper longer term impact in our sims lives. Sims who are fulfilled, feeling mostly positive emotions etc. would have a higher “self-fulfillment” bar, while sims who are miserable or feeling negative emotions most of the time (or for prolonged amounts of time) would feel unfulfilled and perhaps go into some sort of aspiration failure like they did in TS2. A fulfilled elder sim that dies of old age, should die happily and content because they have had a good life; the opposite should happen to unfilled sims. > > * A happy vs unhappy death and the chances of more accidental death gives the player a sense of challenge: your challenge is to keep your sim ALIVE and FULFILLED (or if you like to torture them, unfulfilled) and to lead them to a happy elderly demise. > > > > 2.- How to implement more challenge in the game? > > I am aware that not everyone wants this level of challenge or may want different levels of challenge. I think what you guys did with lot challenges could be a very smart way to add a lot of challenge back. > > Most of the features I mentioned, such as burglars, natural disasters, death without warnings, harder chance cards, etc. could definitely be implemented as lot features. And all the challenges relating to social progression (attraction system, interests system, chemistry, etc.) could be optional in the game menu; or there could just be a purchasable reward in the reward store to make your sim super attractive and friendly and annul any challenge in that regard. > > Thinking “bigger”, I would ideally implement different difficulty modes (in the game menu): easy, medium and hard, where the current game is the “easy” mode, and all the added challenges I mentioned (and more that I’m sure I haven’t thought about) could be added. > > I’m sorry for the lengthy post. I hope this feedback is helpful!
Better romance options, cuddling in bed, holding hands, snuggling on the sofa, spooning when sleeping, slow dancing …. You know, normal everyday things that you do with your spouse/significant other. Imagine never ever touching your husband/wife in bed unless you are woohoo’ing.
Make sims actually do things “together” as in interacting with each while doing an activity. As it is now it just feels like it’s a group of sims doing the same thing at the same time in the same area, but not actually doing it “with” the other sims. Kids on a playground should be “playing together” …. Swinging, and sliding, chasing each other, hiding from each other, going back to the swing, etc. They should actually be interacting “with” the other kids on the playground. That is normal behavior for kids. Make kids behave like kids and not miniature adults.
Make traits actually be relevant. Slob sims should not autonomously clean up the dishes, take the trash out, dust, etc. Lazy sims should not autonomously be doing push-ups or jogging, etc. Bookworm sims should not be obsessed with the computer and gaming. 9x outta 10 I just randomly assign traits because sims ALL ACT THE SAME WAY, no matter what trait you assign them.
We need some sort of attraction system. As it is now, all my sims are bi-sexual in my game. I don’t want that, I want certain sims to be attracted to and pursue a relationship with only sims of the opposite gender or those that I determine who are more open to all love genders, to pursue who they choose. We should be able to set their gender preferences and decide on what type of sim they are attracted to.
Also, we need some sort of “faithful” or “committed” trait (if it actually worked) or a CAS assignment we could set for that particular sim. You already have the total opposite of this with the “Free Love” NAP. Why not have something similar for monogamous relationships?
Teens or young adults that move out of their parent’s house should not be scolded for cooking or sleeping over when they come back for a visit. Imagine if your parents did that to you in RL and treated you just like you were a neighbor or acquaintance. That’s just wrong!
Sims are wayyyyyy too happy … all of the time. That is not realistic, even upbeat cheerful RL people have days they are less bubbly and happy. Maybe they have a stressful job assignment coming up and they’re distracted, maybe they had a fight with a friend or loved one, maybe they learned of someone close to them passing away ….. things happen that will effect our moods in RL, even if we are a “happy” person.
There are no random events that happen in TS4, that’s part of what makes it boring because along with the traits making all sims appear to be a clone of each other, nothing spontaneous or random happens to totally change the story you had in your head. Part of life is how you overcome obstacles and learn from them or that certain events shape your future life. That doesn’t happen in TS4. For example if you play one sim in a certain way and then play a totally different sim in the exact same way, you already know exactly what’s going to happen because there’s no random event that will change your story and since all the sim’s personalities are clones of each other, the story’s outcome is the same as the previous story.
Update the whims, there are players, like myself, who enjoy whim driven playstyles. But they need to make sense. The whims should be reflective on the sims individual traits. Not every sim should want a pool or to buy a bee box! Unflirty sims should not get a whim to kiss a stranger, etc. Update them, add more, but most importantly …. Make them relevant and make sense to that indivudal sims unique personality.
Multi-purpose lots would really help create more depth and better gameplay. Players should be able to create a lot and place down all required items for each specific lot type they want to combine, and it actually function and attract sims to use those items or partake in those activities.
Bring back random burglars and break-ins. It could be a lot challenge that would allow this lot to possibly be targeted to be broken into. (Great for players who want to play in a less savory world save!) Players could also buy an alarm to prevent it. We have cops in the game already, they could come and handcuff the burglars and take them away. The burglars could also lose reputation points because they were caught and the entire neighborhood is gossiping because they saw them get taken away by the cops. You have already implemented a “stealing” act into the game with Eco Living …. The “Sharing is Caring” NAPs. Only thing is, these stealing sims don’t get into trouble, what type of message are you sending your young players you’re catering to ….. That stealing or “borrowing” something that isn’t yours is okay and you won’t get in trouble if you do it too?
Bring back the schoolbus, taxis, and different career cars. It was really fun and fulfilling when your sim would get a promotion and you’d wonder what type of vehicle would be picking them up for work the next day. There’s already fake cars driving around in most neighborhoods.
Also public transportation would be great, bus stops in each neighborhoods…. Sims could walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus to show up, get on the bus and then zoom off screen for the loading screens.
Keep other world sims in their own neighborhoods. Nobody in RL sees the same people in every city or venue they visit. Neighborhoods should use local sims who live in it as walkbys. The game should use player created sims to fill community lots first if there are enough available sims before generating more random townies.
Better and more realistic interactions for the "object babies" ..... tweak the animations so that they are a fluid movement depending on what you have queued up ...... you don't pick up a crying baby to comfort them, lay them back down in the bed, then pick them back up to feed them, then lay them and pick them back up to play with them, etc and do another interaction with them ..... you pick them up and comfort them, feed them, play with them and lay them down when you are changing them or they are happy and sated. No parent lays their baby back down in a crib each and every time they are getting ready to interact with that baby.
hiii, thank u for giving us an opportunity to voice most things have already been said like attraction systems, one sided relationships, story progression, better traits/whims etc so I’ll shortly mention some things i think will bring the game more challenge that i havent seen yet:
- cheating is too easy in the sims 4😭 i liked how the sims 3 made it difficult to hide ur affair from the gossiping townies, having to make sure u wont get caught in public or they’ll tell ur partner. The betrayed moodlet ur partner got which made it impossible to do any romance or positive interactions with them. And that they got to decide to dump or forgive u when the moodlet was gone. Or when ur sim has the reputation of a cheater they will get turned down by other sims they try to pursue in the future. I miss cheating having actual big consequences. I did a cheating storyline the other day and it was so disappointing how little my sims family seemed to be affected by it.
- it’s so hard for ur sims to die, i miss when the game threw me a curveball and unexpectedly made a sim die by electrocution or even a meteor shower lmao
- autonomy needs fixing (idk if this is just a glitch in my game or if the autonomy of sims is actually bad for everyone) i have my autonomy on high yet my sim only seems to be doing the same thing over and over again out of her own (drinking water or calling on the phone) also i’d like for there to be autonomous flirting (w maybe an option to disable it for the ppl that don’t want this) it’s weird when both sims are flirty and have some romance together yet they keep doing mischievous interactions with eachother
-i wish that when ur sim is pursuing an npc, they wont have to put in all the work. It would be fun if the npc could ask ur sim to start dating if they got high romance and u haven’t asked them to be ur gf/bf yet. Or when u haven’t spend time with ur so in a while you’ll get a break up text or u can lose romance etc
also i know this doesn’t add any challenge or depth but i really really miss my sims being able to cuddle in the same bed while they’re sleeping hihi
I would like to have a tool to build custom challenges and share them with the community.
For example: I like the errands but after a while they are much too easy und they are allways the same. If I had a errand editor I could build my own more challenging errands and could share them with other players. And I also could build errands which were specific for the other worlds.
Another example: I like playing historical or survival challenges. If I play castaway I would like to be able to switch off the grid in the whole neighborhoud or world and disable bills. It's annoying having to pay bills on a lonley island far away from the civilization.
If I want to play a realistic scenario I need a bunch of mods.
A world build tool would also be nice. Not to build new worlds only to change a few details. For example when I play rags to riches I like dumpster diving but it is only possible in Evergreen Harbour. I would like to be able to build more community places like playgrounds so the sims don't have to travel to a community lot. And I would like to place the objects from a pack to other worlds not depending to this pack.
This is also only possible with a mod.
I like the new lot challenges but they should be reworked. Some are not really challenging. Simple Living is too easy with having a delivery service and I allways select the vulcano to get the gifts. The earthquake is boring because nothing worse happens. The sims a frightened for a few hours and thats all.
For more depth the bills should depend on the neighbourhood the sims live. Living in De Sol Valley should be more expensive as living in Sulani. And the bills should not depend on the value of the lot and the sims inventory. Why should my sim pay more when he buys a new/better sofa?
I would like better interactions between NPCs and my Sim. I create neighborhoods with people I know. Two Sims I created in a relationship that live in two different households walk right past each other like they don't know each other. Not sure if possible, but I would like more relationship recognition between sims.
I should start out by saying that I’m a relatively new player. I’ve only played sims 4 and never played sims 2 or 3, although I’ve watched let’s plays and comparisons of these games. I do have to say that most of the time, I’ve been quite surprised at how much depth the other games provided and how unique the sims felt in these versions of the sims, even though they are much, much older than the sims 4.
In terms of more depth and challenge to the game, my suggestions are probably quite familiar at this point. I would love for sims to feel unique and for their personalities to provide some challenge within the game. As of now I can practically have any sim in the game, regardless of traits, to do whatever I want; practice any skill, befriend anyone in the game, marry anyone within a day, and so forth. Traits seem inconsequential and barely affect gameplay or relationship gain which makes the sims 4 lack depth. The likes and dislikes system helped a little with this, and it was definitely a step in the right direction, as was the update on traits a few months ago, however, these still feel superficial. If personality sliders are not possible in the sims 4, it would be nice to get more updated traits (e.g. traits that affect autonomous behavior) as well as a variety of them (it feels like we have so few of them). And perhaps, instead of having the same idle animations for every sim it would be nice if these changed depending on the traits. Like how erratic sims seem to talk to themselves, I wish that most if not all the traits had unique visible quirks that told them apart and gave your sims a little more personality. And again for these traits to have an impact in their relationship gain (e.g. if we had a cowardly trait maybe sims with this trait would be unwilling to talk to ghosts or vampires and have a harder time gaining a positive relationship with these sims, or have family oriented sims avoid noncommittal sims, etc.). Also, it would be nice to have traits that are actually traits? Personally, I enjoy the game having dietary restrictions, but vegetarian and lactose intolerant aren’t traits and we have so few slots as is. If sims didn’t feel unique with 3 traits, they seem even less so with 2 traits and a dietary restriction.
In addition to more unique traits, I feel like one of the problems with sims lacking depth is that relationship points between sims are shared. Sentiments were a great improvement on this but relationships should still be one sided. This would allow for one-sided conflict between sims; we could have one-sided crushes, a cheating sim might not have their relationship towards the spouse affected but the spouse would see a dramatic decrease in their relationship with the cheating sim, etc. Moreover, sims actions or major life events should have an impact or some form of consequence not only to the target sims but sims involved in the situation. As an example if parent sims get divorced, their children should be impacted by this, maybe get an angry or sad moodlet, or go through a phase; if a sim is expecting a baby, grandparents and uncles of the would-be newborn object should get excited too, etc. Memories could also be a huge improvement for depth in these cases, perhaps the child with the divorce parents could get a sad moodlet when remembering their parent’s divorce, making a life event like this affect gameplay in general and at the same time making sims feel unique based on some of their memories and past experiences. Memories wouldn't have to be extensive to improve depth in the game, they would only need to cover important events in a sim's life like it did on sims 2.
Moreover, an attraction system can also improve challenges within the sims 4. Again, I can have any sim marry another sim within a sim day. Although it’s great for players who like to control every aspect of storytelling (which you can cheat anyway), it’s not for those of us who would like the game to provide some form of direction. At some point I would like the game to surprise me, or to make it difficult for me to marry my sim off to the other sim I spent 30 minutes creating in cas. I would like for an attraction system to impact how well or poorly my sim’s date go (rather than conversing with a sims 10 times) or how slowly or rapidly their relationship gain is, and if they can marry at all.
I also feel like a “wants and fears” system would greatly improve depth and provide a challenge in the game. So far, all we have is whims, which seem to vary only with the sim's surroundings and rarely with a sim's personality trait (why do they all want a bee box?). Whims also only impact sims in a positive way if you do them and there is no consequence if you miss them. It would be nice to have whims re-done in a way that is similar to the wants and fears of sims 2, where they impacted your sims in a positive or negative way depending on how or if you accomplished these.
Aspirations are not aspirations, just tutorials for the players which are super easy to do(if you can complete like 10 aspirations in a sim's life, these don’t feel like aspirations at all). It would be nice to have actual aspirations (not tied to a job, location or skill) in the game which were not interchangeable, and offered unique challenges within a sim's entire lifespan, or at least from teenagehood to adulthood. There are no real aspirations for teens in the sims, making this life stage feel lacking and a lifelong aspiration might help provide challenge and depth to this life stage (as well as elder sims).
And lastly, money in the game is way too easy to make, even without cheats, and there’s no way to spend it except on utility bills. There are no hospital bills (even when having a baby if you don’t buy a crib the game will gift you one… that’s 250 simoleons right there), no education bills (other than university), sims can change their hair and appearance at no cost at all. Once you make money there’s no real monetary challenge in the game. It would be nice to have options in game that added more challenge to this, e.g. option of private vs public school, illnesses that were consequential in the game and actually cost money to cure, transportation costs, shopping for clothes, etc. A loan system with interest could also improve on this. Right now we can only take out loans with the university pack, and you pay back what you borrowed. If sims could take out loans (to buy a house, furniture, etc.), especially when they are starting out, and then have to pay back the money plus interest it would definitely add some challenges to the game. Also getting a job is very easy too. It would be nice if getting an actual job was like the acting gigs in get famous, where you sort of have to interview for them (perhaps not in all jobs but maybe for more demanding roles?).
Overall I feel like the sims 4 has tried to make the game as easy and friendly as possible. Although it is appreciated, this is a life simulation game after all, and life provides many challenges. The sims franchise has been around for a long time and most players expect certain features. I know this must be challenging as a developer to create new content, however, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Sims 2 seems to be a great game and it can be used as an example to create the content that a lot of the players have asked for to create some depth and challenge within the game. However, there is no denying that this year has seen a great improvement in the sims 4 content, and venues for communication like this one show that the sims team is striving to improve the game even more. Thank you for your hard work and I look forward to new and improved content within the sims 4.
[b]Suggestions from someone who spent a lot on the game but stopped playing: [/b]
[b]What would you expect from it?[/b] When I think of depth needed in The Sims 4 I think mainly of what could be done about the immersion. Everywhere seems like the same place with a different coat of paint. It is as they say, you can leave the place you were, but "you" follows you there. The sims themselves feel the same personality-wise. In my opinion, we need more "meat" in a sense. I love people. To me, people are extremely interesting, but the aspects that make people interesting are not really present in the sims. I think more consequences for social actions as well as a system that incorporates past experiences or learned behaviors much like the new likes and dislikes system. I feel the traits we are allowed could be meaningfully expanded as well. The sims, without things like this, end up being one singular sim, a mirror of the player themself. If the sims had a way of leading (not babying) us onto a story, it would be amazing and greatly appreciated. Perhaps there could be different mannerisms (similar to the walk styles) that could help reflect their personalities.
[b]How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?[/b] If there were ways in which individual sims felt different and more like people I would come back for certain.
[b]What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?[/b] [list] [*] individualization of sims [*] transportation [*] rabbit holes [*] condensed locations [*] mobility [*] value in drama and tragedy [/list]
Thank you for the opportunity to share this feedback! I know I, and many other Simmers, appreciate it. I play Sims 2, Sims 3, and Sims 4 regularly, but my play styles vary for each. I find that if I'm looking to spend time in live mode rather than CAS or BB, I don't play the Sims 4. The main reason for it, as this post is meant to address, is lack of depth and realism.
I would say, above all else, the reason I struggle with live mode in the Sims 4, is LOADING SCREENS. I understand that the open world in Sims 3 caused heavy lag and burdened lower end computers, so an entirely open world would be impractical. However, with the introduction of sub-neighborhoods in the Sims 4, I think eliminating loading screens within these smaller areas would exponentially increase the depth and liveliness of a neighborhood. For example, my Sim lives in Foundry Cove and would like to go to their neighbor's for a chat. A loading screen in between their houses is immersion breaking, and makes me less likely to interact with the world around me - which is a shame, because worlds and lots in the Sims 4 are so beautiful!
Otherwise, there have been many recent additions to the Sims 4 that have been helpful in increasing depth. Sentiments especially have made our Sims feel more alive. I think expanding sentiments - increasing their length, strength, and adding variety - would be helpful to this. One of the reasons sentiments have been such an improvement to core gameplay is because Sims can have DIFFERENT feelings to one another. This is similar to the Sims 2, where Sims had entirely different relationships to one another. I think Sims having varying feelings towards one another would add variety and depth to the game.
In a similar vein, I think reintroducing the ATTRACTION SYSTEM would make Sims and their relationships feel more alive. Preferences like "muscular" "or "rich" similar to the Sims 2 could be reintroduced, and attraction could be increased based on traits and interests. One Sim may be attracted to another due to their preferences, but that Sim may not like them back!
Regarding traits, I think some traits like "vegetarian" should be moved to the preference system. Traits should also be more influential in how Sims relate to one another. RELATIONSHIPS should be more difficult to earn in general, but it should be a true struggle for Sims with conflicting traits! Sims should no longer become good friends by taking 10 photos of another.
Speaking of relationships, another aspect where depth and realism could be added is STORY PROGRESSION and NPC autonomy. NPCs should marry one another, break up, move, have children, etc. without player feedback. This could include the player's NPC partner breaking up with them when they gain a bad sentiment or proposing to them when they gain a good sentiment, or if they have been in a relationship for a while. A vital aspect of story progression is enabling the player to learn about it. Texts are already ubiquitous in the Sims 4, and the player may sometimes receive calls from NPCs asking about marriage or pregnancy. Sims could announce their pregnancy via text rather than ask for advice. NPC Sims filling empty lots is already an aspect of the game, but imagine if Sims received a notification when they had new neighbors! Our Sims could be part of the Welcome Wagon for the NPC family. I also loved the GOSSIP NOTIFICATIONS from the Sims 3! It made the NPC sims feel much more alive.
Moreover, I think the AI of the NPC Sims should be improved. The Sims 4 has the smartest Sims yet, so I wish they would act like it :smiley: Stranger NPCs interact with my Sims on community lots and interrupt meaningful conversations. Perhaps NPCs should only interact with Sims if they already know them. Also, in Sims 3, if I cheated on my partner in front of their friend, the partner would confront my Sim! It feels as there are no CONSEQUENCES for my Sims' actions. It is too easy to cheat on a partner or convince an NPC to cheat with me.
I think one way my feelings could be summed up is a need for VARIETY. There should be random chances in the game with NEGATIVE OUTCOMES. Maybe my Sim's partner breaks up with them because they simply aren't feeling it anymore. Maybe a chance card that appears during my Sim's job results in a demotion or firing. Deaths also don't happen very randomly - we have several chances before Sims die, so their deaths feel like murder rather than random results. When we receive chance cards like the Inheritance Call, perhaps there should be a variety of outcomes - "One of the conditions of earning the money was you could NOT ask for conditions!" That way, we don't know the outcome when we make our selection.
Finally, what truly makes the Sims feel alive is SMALL DETAILS, often animations. In the Sims 4, animations and responses often feel larger-than-life. One of my favorite mods is one that incorporates environmental or mood reactions into the walking animation, so Sims don't drop what they're doing in order to react! This way, emotions and reactions feel more integrated. Other small details include Sims who are lovers cuddling in bed, like in Sims 3, or interactions like throwing food during a meal like in Sims 2. Although this isn't base game, one of my favorite interactions in Sims 4 is when kittens play with yarn from Nifty Knitting. Interactions between pacts make the game feel fleshed out and well-developed.
With all that being said, the most important aspect of realism and depth for me would be LOADING SCREENS. I understand an open world game is not possible, but at the very least, lots within the same neighborhood (or, perhaps, apartment building) should not require loading screens. Loading screens are the most immersion-breaking aspect of the game and greatly decrease realism and depth.
When writing this, I aimed to make my suggestions as realistic as possible, inspired by current mechanics of the game and mechanics of previous games. Thank you for this opportunity and I'm excited to see how the game continues to grow!
Sul Sul, I tried to figure out a way to talk about adding depth or challenges to the sims without creating a wishlist. This was hard so I apologize for those times I sound whishlisty.
Let's talk about relationships....I think it would be more challenging if my sim couldn't meet, marry and have a child on the same day. I think friendships and relationships should take longer to develop. I know the complex irl but they are too easy in the game and prove no challenge at all. For example, my sim doesn't like her neighbor because she plays music late at night but she speaks to her like they are friends. They should not be speaking at all unless that jerk apologizes for being disrespectful. Then the cheating 🐸🐸🐸🐸 that left my sim pregnant and moves in with someone else should have to pay child support and take the baby on weekends. There is no judge to force this to happen. He just gets to pretend they never happened. Skills: When a sim learns (max skill) a skill then there is nothing to do from there. I feel like this could be more complex like having skill trees and instead of maxing the whole skill, they can max parts or open new trees. I think the way we learn some skill is too easy. So like handiness can be split up so you can learn to fix things or learn to create things but you would have to take a class. Having the younger sims learn some skills in school would bring some depth to the game. Having some younger sims have trouble learning or refusing to learn would be interesting to play as well. I love the simple living challenge but one step further would be having to learn the recipes instead of already knowing them.
Careers: I think careers are not a challenge at all. I think having careers that you can only apply to if you have a degree would be a challenge. Also having to apply for the job and going on an interview would too. I think that would be great. Having your sim create a resume and pick out the right outfit. An aptitude test would tell your sim where they should apply. The doctor career drives me crazy, I feel like sims should start that in school and be an intern instead of starting as an orderly. Having the doctor career having different career lines would be good as well. My sim would have to apply to be a surgeon and if they don't get accepted they would have to work harder or apply to be an intern. Changing careers is too easy as well. A sim should have to explain why they left their job. Maybe rags to riches could be a lot challenge as well. Instead of having the skills or doing one thing to get a promotion, your sim could stay late or wine and dine with the supervisor. It would depend on the job.
Consequences are few in the Sims 4. A sim can kill off another sim without worry (My sims would never do this). If my child sims skips school nothing happens. No trouble for stealing or cheating. Having my sim die because of laughter and trying to bring her back to life was one of the most fun things I have done in the sims 4.
Vadeesh to everyone who has worked so brilliantly on The Sims 4 for nearly a decade!
The commitment to improving the present game rather than focusing on a brand new project has not gone unnoticed. I also want to take a moment to applaud how connected and socially aware The Sims community has remained.
As I scrolled through this feed, I read a lot of great suggestions for the future of The Sims 4 and I am excited for what the future holds. I don't have a long and detailed submission to post here because most of what I have to say is already in the beginning of my dissertation. You see, I am a psychology student, and my passion for psychology - which has turned into my career which keeps a roof over mine and my daughter's head, started with The Sims. I first started playing The Sims when I was about 7 years old. Over the years, my relationship with The Sims has evolved and gone through many phases of separation and reunion - much like one would expect with a "twin flame". Today, I see The Sims as a tool for personal and social development because its resemblance to reality balanced with familiar and macabre novelty makes it a star player when it comes to increasing self and cultural awarness as well as holding personal interest. One of my life dreams is to publish peer reviews literature supporting the use of The Sims in counseling practice so that others can experience the life-changing benefits from The Sims that I have.
Therefore, I have only one request:
Please continue to use current and research-supported psychology models as a foundation of future development.
Will Wright's interest in architectural and environmental psychology and social development birthed The Sims franchise. I am have remained grateful to see that The Sims continues to hold true to its innately psychological existence. I hope to see this remain as one of the strongest elements of The Sims. The foundation of psychology present in The Sims 4 and previous versions of The Sims games sets them apart from all other simulations games and the "learning made fun" feeling provided by the game has already changed many lives for the better. I hope to amplify this effect with my academic contributions.
Hello! Thanks for taking the time to read all our feedback. The following are areas where I think changes/additions can lead to a fuller gameplay experience.
LOT CHALLENGES I love that the traits that make things a but more difficult on the lot were separated out, but most of them already existed so outside of the Cottage Living ones they're not really creating new gameplay. Some suggestions for lot traits:
1. Space Enthusiast trait - alien abductions occur more frequently, neighbors more likely to be aliens, slight increase in meteor storms
2. Inclement Weather trait - lot experiences bad weather more frequently ex. thunderstorms, blizzards, etc
3. Farm trait - must place at least 1 farm plot and 1 animal shed, boost to crop and animal produce yield, slight boost to animal happiness
4. Bug Infestation trait - crops are infested with bugs more frequently
5. Drought trait - crops need to be watered more frequently, cost of water higher, may have nonvoluntary water shut offs
*2-5 would work well for farming/gardening let's plays
6. Harder to Conceive trait (we have ways to make it very easy to have children, this would make it not so easy but still possible) - Sims have to try for baby for often before getting pregnant, using fertility treatment recommended
7. Poverty trait - Sims lose all their money and the house is destroyed upon moving in (similar to starting Rags to Riches challenge)
8. Bring back random lot challenges that could happen when you bought non-empty lot in the Sims 3 where your Sim has to either accept the offer of help from the npc that showed up or be stuck with the challenge permanently (challenges were: bug infestation, ancient burial ground - ghosts, flooding - broken water items, meteor aftermath - burnt items & ash piles, and squatter's squalor - trash & rats).
SIMS 1. Childhood Stages - need to be differentiated more. There should be activities that only one stage can do. Also, with the scout badge system, make more badges that only teens can get. Hair and clothing also need more unique options as most are just copies of adult options.
2. Aspirations - Need more depth and stages. Many feel like basic tutorials and then they're done.
3. Friendship System - It's hard to tell where you are in each stage. Please bring back the 100 point bar or percentages. Also it's annoying when acquaintances drop off friends list. You shouldn't have to keep introducing yourself to the same person over and over just because you haven't talked to them for a few days. Strangers should drop off if not interacted with, but everyone else should remain.
MISC GAMEPLAY 1. There's an outline of a body in one of the apartments and it would be neat if we could solve the mystery of that person's death. I don't know if this is something that could be added to Detective career as a side quest/job or if it would be something for a pack (if pack then could add murder scenes to more houses/apartments)
2. Burglars - If these return, there are a few tweaks I'd like to see to make them less frustrating. a) All Sims should be able to fight them. Winner will be one with higher fitness and/or buffs to fighting from other traits. b) The burglar should not be able to run past a cop without being engaged AT ALL. c) Of burglar is successful there should be a message saying exactly what was stolen.
3. Gravestone/Urn for farm animals. Minor but for people that consider them as part of the family, this would be nice addition.
4. Retail Stores/Restaurants - Family members, including kids, should be able to be employees so business can be a family owned/run one.
5. Bank Loan system similar to student loans would be great for more realistic gameplay of buying a house, but it should be optional.
6. Going to university is boring. There needs to be some interactive courses instead of just rabbit holes.
7. Roommate system needs tweaking. It takes too long for anyone to show up a lot of the time, and sometimes no one shows up and you have to keep putting in new ads.
This was longer than I thought it would be. Sorry! If you made it to the end - THANKS!! :D
I have a few requests/ideas to improve the sims 4 base game and all around the game In all categories of play (CAS, Build/Buy, and Gameplay) CAS: 1. Create a Style return but in a more manageable way: The Sims 3 Create a Style was ambitious and was very free but resulted in lag for players especially running on and older system or with many DLCs, the sims 4 could fix this by having a lesser one but one that's still present (Make it for hair, eyes, eyebrows, and skin tone and make it just colour change not pattern change) Hopefully it would allow simmers more freedom of creating their dream sims without sacrificing so much play-ability due to lag 2. Make Feminine clothing already in basegame/other packs fir Masculine sims: Today we live in a society that is less strict in gender and the sims 4 embraced that by adding the ability of being trans, however the cas items would disagree, it's obvious that masculine sims get less cas then feminine sims but the real issue is that masculine sims can't wear feminine outfits (specifically top/full body) since a breast shadow is formed. I would request you edit some or even all the feminine outfits to fit masculine sims, it would help go a long way 3. Make all the makeup fit masculine sims: Same as before, some makeup looks awkward on masculine sims so it would be nice if you went through and fixed it 4. More male CAS would be nice in the base game: The hairs and clothing are very lacking in the base game for masculine sims, that being said please don't take CAS from other packs to fix this issue Build/Buy 1. Make walls, half walls, pools, platforms and everything that is stuck to a grid pattern (beside columns) have access to half tile spaces: The biggest limit to building is the tile system and I understand that free building walls would be hard and sometimes disastrous for simmers to try and use but I believe everything I mentioned would succeed on half-tile, it gives more freedom but at the same time make's it easy to build with (I would recommend like furniture, you have to hit F5 to switch from only full tile to half tile in case there are some simmers who feel overwhelmed to use it) 2. Make columns free from the grid all together: Honestly this one confuses me the most how restricted columns are especially since if they were free to move anywhere using alt, simmers could make innovative things with them like base game canopy beds, cool art, etc.) 3. Make railings be able to place on one or the other side of the stairs: This one would make a huge difference for me since there are certain railings I cannot use (like the Strangerville one) inside my house since my stairs are usually against a wall but the railing sticks through the wall (maybe even make it auto remove like the ladder on the bunk bed when you place stairs against the wall) 4. Add matching wood swatches/swatches in general: There are many items that clash (especially from pack to pack) mainly because of non-matching wood swatches Gameplay: 1. Wants and Fear system: Sims are very bland in the sims 4, I feel a wants and fear system could help personalize the sims even more, the preferences system is a great start but you can push it further and make sims even more customizable 2. Add more preferences category/remove some "traits": The traits that should honestly be removed are the vegetarian trait (city living now base game) and the lactose intolerance trait (cottage living). These are not traits that define a person and takes up a third of the slot that could be defining the sim with actual traits like slob, lazy, neat, snob, etc. instead, make new preferences for food diet, is the sim vegetarian? vegan? lactose intolerance? etc. this way you don't waste a slot just because you don't want your sim to autonomously eat meat 3. Fix the whim system: You stopped updating the whim system and left it to die, you could incorporate this into the wants and fear system I mentioned before and make it an award to complete a want (get some points), and if failed get a debuff (probably negative emotion) 4. Fix emotions: The emotion system is way out of wack, negative emotions are not strong enough and emotions that were added to preferences should cover the happy trait when doing something you hate (I won't be feeling happy even though I'm doing something I hate just because I ate some fruitcake an hour ago, that's unrealistic) Bonus (Probably Going to be ignored lol) 1. Add a pool table
Thanks for reading through my long list, I hope mine and other people's comment helps make the sims 4 improve as a game
Another ostensibly small aspect of the game that would increase realism is planned events from NPCs. When an NPC invites me to a party, it would feel more realistic if the party came with a time and a date rather than immediately. This would be a good opportunity to use the calendar. Also, when NPCs invite our Sims out, perhaps the "Want to go out tonight?" message would create an event for 7PM rather than Sims going out immediately at 12PM. It would also be helpful if we had the option to respond to these requests with "Choose a time..." so if our Sim is currently busy we could still go to the event with that NPC.
Comments
I am a sims 4 player (only) with over 4k hours played. I use all the packs (not kits) and play a heavily modded version of the game. I have used mods to correct for some to the flaws in the game and to add depth and richness that I feel is lacking, so I have thought a lot about this.I love and appreciate the game you all have made and only want it to improve!
The first thing I want to say in regard to increasing challenge and depth is that ultimately (and perhaps for SIms 5) the solution is really to split the game into two versions. I will say more about what can be done short of that, but i think a lot of the problems that players complain of related to depth stem from the fact that you are gearing the game toward too wide an audience and catering to the youngest end of the gamer spectrum has resulted in a game that is experienced as shallow and dumbed down for many adult players, and has to rely on mods to be at all interesting. In the Sims 5 I would like to see you create a "Sims Lite" for the youngest players, and a more robust, mature and emotionally textured version for adults.
An example that illustrates this is how the current Sims 4 handles illness. Now, a Sim gets a negative buff from some random illness, takes a swig of easily purchased medicine and is magically "cured". This is a version of illness geared toward an eight year old. An adult version would unexpectedly bestow a range of illnesses on sims that would carry a serious enough negative buff over a length of time to override or periodically impact other buffs, and make some activities impossible, and affect needs (ie, tire more quickly) . Sims would have to go the doctor or therapist or hospital ( if serious enough). There would be a risk of death for some illnesses (this could be toggled off). The cure would take several days and the illness could be recurring or chronic. Yes that requires finding a "sweet spot" of creating a hardship w/out being overwhelming, but this is achievable, perhaps with some option to toggle.
The other areas that need attention to create more challenge:
- Financial. It is to easy to make money and nothing to do with it once you have a lot.. It is too easy to make money off gardening, crafting books or paintings. These should be harder to accomplish. Rare plants should be that- rare - and truly hard to find- not sold at the gardening shop. Crafting items should take longer and sell for less especially in the early stages of skill acquisitions. Careers should be harder to start- you cannot just "get a job" but might have to apply more than once or accomplish certain tasks or achieve certain skill levels first. Once entered, a career should be harder to advance in. I use a mod that make it significantly harder to progress in all careers (by adding much more demand for achievements between levels) and it has helped game play a lot. Some work at home careers like botanist have tasks that can be accomplished in less than a sims hour routinely. This is waaaay too easy. Sims should have reversals in careers. They should have more unexpected pop ups that demote them if they choose the wrong thing or even be fired. Because hard work is not always rewarded in life- people get fired and laid off.
Real estate is too cheap in ratio to the salaries. So it is too easy to make money and to easy to buy real estate. B and B items are too cheap. There is only any financial challenge for Sims at the very beginning of a career and it evaporates quickly. In the theme of more random events that can have negative impact- how about financial one? A random tax credit given or random un-expected bill (how about some medical bills, hmm?). University is ridiculously cheap (from a US perspective :-( ). Everything is so cheap in ratio to income! How about getting loans and using credit cards, with the possibility of going into debt? Once sims have a lot of money could you increase options for disposing of it? Could Sims donate 250K to build a new museum or library, and actually build it? Could there be an actual way to funnel some of that money back into the Sims world somehow? They can't even buy a second home or do anything substantial with a lot of money. A downturn in the economy could suddenly cut sims salaries by half for a season, or a new tax rate siphon off some of their savings... some things that create actual financial challenge on an ongoing basis or intermittent basis other than the first days of starting out.
Emotional and Interpersonal- This is where fundamental issues related to traits, emotions and aspirations kick in. One big issue, as others have said, is a dysfunctional emotions system where buffs related to transient and superficial positive things (a good meal! A nice fire!) override more serious negative emotions (anger at cheating, sorrow over a death, other anxieties). The weight given to environmental buffs to override interpersonal/intra-psychic buffs related to significant life events creates a sim life that is shallow and unrealistic in absurd ways. I have resorted to a mod that gives more strength and more duration to negative buffs to correct partially for this flaw.
Because the emotional system (which is transient) is so dominant, the impact of traits, likes and dislikes and sentiments on actual Sims behavior is weak and imbalanced. As for "likes and dislikes" I do not need my sims to wake up at 2 am to applaud a table in their room- I DO need Sims' likes to be more consequential and to concern more important things- like who they want to date. Some attractiveness system to impact interpersonal connections - friendship and dating- would actually matter. In keeping with creating more challenge, as was started with the sentiments systems (why do sentiments seem to fade so fast?) relationships need to be more heavily impacted by the possibility of unequal sentiments and negative social interactions need to have more lasting (negative impact). It is way too easy to romance or befriend anyone, and again, I have had to use mods to correct for this. A caveat about installing more of an attractiveness system: I hear some people advocating against the bisexual bias built into the game and wanting a choice to make sims attracted to one gender (or both) as a choice. I caution against this solution because 1) It reinforces a gender binary, which goes backward from the direction I want the SIms to go in and 2) I like the element of surprise and unpredictability about which sims my sims might find attractive- which I want MORE of in the game, not less. I am not uncomfortable with the idea that sometimes love takes us by surprise!
There should be more negative events that randomly happen (I guess this is the thing behind people always wanting burglars?), because this is a significant part of life. I have emotional deaths disabled by a mod because that is just silly, but deaths due to fire, storms, illness, drowning, etc should happen more frequently. Maybe even more autonomous love relationship breakups when the romance bar gets low.
-Memories. Sims have almost no memories. Ruled by transient emotions, and no memories of their significant life events, makes them seem shallow and artificial. Again, I have to have a mod to correct for this. Sims should have some kind of memory system for events like past illnesses or traumas, deaths, marriages or relationship milestones, birthdays, promotions, personal betrayals, etc. Memories of a an event could offer a buff or an interaction ("celebrate promotion" or "share memories of loved one who died").
-Achievements and aspirations. Again, aspirations are too easy and often a walk through of a game feature. And what about negative effects if you are not progressing in an aspiration. Again the game should be balanced with a negative consequence along with positive rewards.We need more traits
- Traits. We need more of them and for them to have more consequence for sims' actions and interactions.Things like vegetarian are not traits, esp with such a limited number of traits. Traits should impact behavior more. Recent strengthening of this has been appreciated, but more can be done. Yes , I really like it that my sim can be annoyed by a cheerful sim! Keep thinking in that direction!
- More physical interactions/animations based on emotions. Can they cry in the arms of another sim? Can they cuddle in bed? Can they (please) storm out of the house?
- Richer game play can also be enhanced by fixing the generic lot problem. I've really benefited from many talented simmers who imagined and built all kinds of lots that expand game play. These lots often have to be classed as generic lot type, but the generic lot types are not available as destinations for dates, or won't show up as possible venues for Events. Can you fix this?
In sum, this all may be too late for Sims 4, depending on what what you can do with what's already built- although even tweaking helps. But from the get go, you folks will do players a real service by deciding with clarity what age group you are trying to market to, and whether a broad age range can really be served by only one version. What fits for a 13 year old is just not going to work for adults in a sustainable way. This could be a stellar games in two identities and two versions- one a kid's version and one for adults. Just think about it for Sims 5!
First, different sims don't encourage different playstyles.
A lot of sims feel almost the same, even with different traits. This makes them feel shallow, and furthermore, doesn't give you a reason to play differently with different sims. Likes and dislikes were a great step in the right direction, but it still doesn't give sims life-changing differences. I only start to like my sims when I make imaginary character values and habits for them, but it would be great if my sims would just be unique through in-game mechanics.
Examples which I'm thinking of to increase this, are: 1. Giving traits even more differences, like even more interactions, autonomously behavior, etc. 2. Overhauling the whim system and make sure not every sim just gets the same whims, so you know what your sim wants, but they don't all want the same 3. Adding a friendly and/or romantic attraction system so not every sim will like every other sim. 4. Adding fatal flaws (sort of like the sims medieval) that can come and go randomly to your sim and really change up how you should play this particular sim. 5 Adding memories that will affect a sim for their whole further life.
This is not a wishlist, just some examples of fixes as illustrations.
Second, the game is too easy to 'win'.
Of course, there is no way to win, but the challenges the game presents to you are not that hard or not that meaningful.
First, there is no point in getting super-rich, besides a beautiful house, there are no expensive meaningful things you can buy, so there is no point in grinding up to the top. A fix could be for example adding second/vacation homes or buying shares of community lots like the sims 3.
Second, The aspirations are there, but the reward store is not a good reward for completing the aspiration. I don't want my sims to complete their life goal only for them to never have to pie. When I'm completing an aspiration the sim already gets more boring and then I would make their life even more boring by making their life easier when choosing these traits. A solution could be to add crazy things to the reward store that add new gameplay for sims you would otherwise already be done with. The sims 3 reward store always had some crazy stuff, and I would always choose this over the 'need-helping'-ones. For example, the teleporting pad and Philosopher's Stone were great, they added new gameplay and are just ridiculous(ly funny). But I'm sure the sims team could think of even better rewards for in the sims 4
Last, you are quickly done with skills. Once you are at level 10 there is almost never a reason for your sim to seriously come back to the skill (except when this is their only income). The only examples I know how to fix this are again from the sims 3, but I promise I don't just want the sims team to take them and make the sims 4 the sims 3, they are just examples. 1. The extra challenges for every skill in the skill panel, which are almost never already completed when you get to level 10. 2. The special opportunities you only get when completing a skill, like getting the ability to farm cheese, eggs, meat, etc. when you get to gardening level 10.
third, the town dies pretty quick.
Most premade townies have interesting backstories and feel like they are individual people with their own dreams. But when you play for a while in a safe game, all these sims die and are replaced with their children, in random ugly (had to be said!) outfits, and randomly generated townies with no life (read: backstory) at all. How am I suppose to take anything seriously anymore when everything in the world is random and lifeless. A solution is to regulate the new townies that come in. Give them predetermined clothing and backstories at random. Generate more families, not just single sims and single parents with a kid. Or add back story progression, so townies families seem alive. Let them marry, move, have children, divorce, die prematurely. Or add back gossip, so you actually feel like other sims have a life too.
Fourth, you can always guess how everything will go
I have done it countless times: imagined playing the sims in a certain way but then never actually playing it out, because I know it will be exactly like I already imagined. It is good to have the ability to create perfect storylines, but when everything becomes predictable, it drains the players' own imagination in order to make the game fun. We have to give the already expected events meaning and make the challenges exciting. This can be fixed in countless ways by adding random events, obstacles, etc. Just anything so you don't know what will happen and, even better, make it meaningful too. But please make it also mostly negative. The game is already too easy at many times and one lottery is enough. In my opinion, only when a sim can have painfully bad times, the good times will be truly meaningful.
Lastly, emotions still need to be better.
Emotions flip too fast, are overpowered too easily, and that makes the emotions so much less meaningful. If a sim is sad because someone close to them died, they should not get fully happy even when they just got a baby and married. I have found a few solutions that illustrate what kind of changes I would like to see: 1. Make it so emotions balance each other out. for example, when you are also sad, you can never get fully happy no matter how many happy buffs you have. 2. Add combined emotions, that combine main emotions together if there are buffs from both. Like for example 'emotional' when a sim has both strong sad and happy buffs. Or 'restless' when a sim has both strong stressed and energized buffs. Or 'overthinking' when both inspired and embarrassed. etc. 3. Let emotions strengten eachoter. Confident and playful could for example support the flirty buffs even more when flirty is already the current emotion of the sim. And the embarrassed emotion could also strengthen the angry emotion when the sim's main emotion was already angry. And the uncomfortable buff can support bad emotions like sad and angry (like done in the meaningful stories mod).
Thanks for the opportunity to share our thoughts. I expect in no way that the sims team implements all the features I mentioned, also because this is not a wishlist (Spiral stairs and improved babies, anybody? ;)), but these topics are really important to me. I am hopeful (both inspired ánd happy) to see what you will do with our feedback :)
Contact: twitter: @Eva05106145
Simblr (sims tumblr): eva-andsomenumbers
But to me and many other Simmers it feels like you are neglecting community of disabled people and neurodivergent people. There is a petition going around about disabilities in a game, and while I get it is hard for you to implement them in a game, you still haven't featured any disabled or neurodivergent content creaators during their specific months (Autism Awareness Month in April or Disability Pride Month last month). So the question is really simple: Will you ever try to be even more inclusive by bringing representation of disabilities to game or/& to social media?
In one of the past surveys you've asked as about new additions to CAS; vitiligo, heterochromia, burns, body hair and others. Will you ever add any of these features?
Community would love if you could make a retro throwback livestreams of past games like The Sims 3 or The Sims 2. Is it something you might consider for a future?
Recently EA added back in store two games that were removed from a store; they were added back because players of those games showed a big interest. Now the question is why this didn't happen with The Sims 2 or other Sims titles that aren't currently available in stores? Lot of Simmers want these titles back on Origin; the response was really big considering that #TheSims2 is trending on Twitter sometimes. The given answer by EA Help is really strange considering other facts (The Sims 2 is not on Origin because it is not supported anymore, but older games that aren't supported as well are still on Origin). What is the true reason why these past titles aren't on Origin and will it be possible to add them back?
Simmers are keep asking about features such as open worlds, cars, color sliders, improved babies, etc. Now the question isn't if you plan to add these features; the question is what features players ask for will never be added to the game?
Lot of content originally from DLCs was added to base game - from single items like hairstyles, clothes, objects to gameplay mechanics like recent free update of calendar. Why do you add in a base game content from DLCs rather than new original content created for the update? With refreshs of older packs, do you plan to compensate those items you've made free?
Male sims don't really get a content compared to female sims. Recently SimGuruRomeo told us that male sims will have plenty of new CAS items in Cottage Living, but the truth is sad - new masculine CAS is boring and doesn't add anything new to the game that wasn't added before. Why do you neglect male sims so much? Can we expect more new and unique masculine CAS in free updates?
As for clothes, kids and toddlers are really forgotten too, especially again male sims. They do not get prety much anything new. Can you balance the new CAS content for all life stages? Is it possible to create solely CAS items for teens and elders?
One of your goals is to include representation for various cultures, so more Simmers could feel represented in a game. But when you put cultures behind paywall in pack, you don't really achieve your goal, but actually conteadict yourself. Any kind of a representation shouldn't be monetized - right now, some cultures were added in a free update, while some others in packs, and that is wrong - why japanesse players have to buy Snowy Escapes to feel represented while hispanic Simmers can use the free update? This is also related to your recent survey about kits - people don't want to see culture kits. You are exploiting the representation with culture kits. So what is the reason you put cultures in packs instead of free updates?
Can we expect more community created packs like Laundry Day or Nifty Knitting? Maybe this time though we could decide about gamepack or expansion pack?
Why some stuffpacks contain much more content than other stuffpacks? For example, Paranormal has more gameplay than Laundry day - why? You can argue it is related to theme, but I would argue that Laundry day can have more gameplay, like ironing or changing bed sheets. There are lot of past stuffpacks that contain even less than Laundry day.
Kits are really controversial topic in Sims community - lot of people hate them, some people like them. There are a few questions about kits that should be answered:
1. Price vs. content - right now, it feels like kits are really expensive considering they do not contain that much of a content. What is plan for future? Lower the price of kits or add more content than they have now (and possibly refresh existing kits)
2. Price in other countries - DLCs in other countries (like UK or Brazil) are more expensive than in US. Kita are really noticeable considering players from these countries pay for kits same price US players pay for stuffpacks. There are ways you can can make sure that players in these countries would pay same amount like other players. So why don't you lower it?
3. The negative response - Kits got negative response from community. What do you think about this response?
4. Stop making kits - you confirmed a few days ago new kit. The response on Twitter was negative, and people were asking you to stop making kits. A days before this announcement players had option to take a survey about kits - and again, lot of people told you to stop making kits. Why don't you stop making kits? Or why don't you take time to actually listen fans what could be better about kits?
Why are vegetarianism & lactose intolerance (& some others) considered in game as traits? They are not personality traits and they take one slot that could be used for real traits. "Traits" such as vegetarianism should be taken out of trait system and included in something new, like lifestyles or diets & allergies
What is the reason behind making legacy characters like Bella Goth or Caliente sister lighter? Yeah, you will be fixing this issue, but it would be great if you could also explain why this issue happened in a first place
More depth in sims relationships (one-sided relationships, more CAS relationship options) and personality/identity (pronouns, compatibility between sims based on traits and likes and dislikes to give more wait to these personality features).
Depth for townies through story progression and memory panel for sims to look back on past sentiments so I can see the journey my sims relationships have taken (if they were enemies but then became lovers I want them to remember that not just forget the second they are in love).
[b]What would you expect from it?[/b]
I would expect more depth to improve the relationships between my sims and make sims more individual. Adding challenge to the game would make the choices my sims make effect their lives more and have more chance of negative consequences like freak demotions or relationship break downs.
[b]How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?[/b]
The focus of the sims is to 'play with life' and to do that we need more freedom in CAS and relationships to create those stories and having things like compatibility or one-sided relationships would add difficulty to the way your sims interact as well as create more individual sims from the start. It would give new ways to play and create different types of sims.
Story progression for townies would make the world come more alive and make me invested in their lives more if they were having their own families, marriages/divorces, and relationships with each other.
Sentiments was such a great addition to the game, but it is really frustrating having to remember everything that has happened to my sims myself and not having a way at looking back on past sentiments and life events in a Sims 2/Sims 3 generations style memory system. It would add so much depth to the game especially being able to recall memories would give emotions more weight and make my sims more individual.
Also, romantic relationships could be more complicated. I'd like to see things like one-sided feelings, and old feelings for a former lover. I think that the romance bar goes down too easily when there's cheating. Love doesn't go away that quickly. Love and anger exist together. And, love might not go away just because a couple broke up. It would take some hard work to rebuild the relationship if your sims don't break up. Adding a separate romantic category for traits could be fun. It would be for the traits that influence their romantic relationships. Current traits like non-committal and unflirty could go there, plus some new ones.
I would like to see a couple more life stages. "Tween" would be a great addition. They would go to middle school or junior high. They could have "puppy love" and spend time with a date, but physically, all they could do is hold hands or give a peck on the cheek. I'd like the challenge of caring for aging parents to appear in the game. Late in life, sims could become frail. Stairs become tiring and difficult. They might need help from household members when it's time for a bath or a meal. Cooking together would be the only way they can cook. Grandchildren would be a source of joy for them, and grandchildren and other caregivers would benefit from helping their elders. But, social services could come and take your elders away if you neglect them.
I can't finish without mentioning disability. It fits right in with challenging gameplay. We need better representation, and it belongs in the base game.
Thanks to all for reading.
-add more random tings that can happen (funny,sad and happy ones)
-townies could invite my sim to party at their house
-townies and friends could come visit more often
-personality overhaul & more whims
-trait overhaul and food allergies etc. to separated from traits
-favorite food option&sims could react to their likes and dislikes more
-random things & activities that could happen in community lots give my sims more reasons to leave their home lot for a while
and go to community lots
-jobs are too easy to get .it would be nice if some jobs had requirements that your sim would need to complete before they can join in them also it would be nice that not all the jobs would be available all the time and the jobs selection would change daily
these are all the things i can think off right now :)
I quoted the below response as an addendum to my suggestions because this touches a lot on a lot of my thoughts and opinions on what the game could use to be more challenge. I hope this quote for emphasis helps you to really consider what this simmer is saying because this calls to the heart of what myself — and many, many, MANY simmers — have been harping on for what we feel the game needs to incorporate more challenging fun. From here, I will jump off and expand on more of ideas as it relates to this and other things. I've separated my points in two four separate talking points so you can best follow me:
Relationships:
As Pixelsimmer mentioned, relationships are just too easy in this game and makes it very boring to play when your sim can easily become friends with or get into a relationship with ANY sim in just a matter of a few sim hours. I really appreciate the likes and dislikes system you've introduced and would love to see you expand on it to have a much bigger impact on who our sims get along with. I know we don't have this in game currently, but I would love to see an attraction system be born out of likes and dislikes so we as players can gain a better sense of who our sims are attracted based on both traits and likes and dislikes. I want to be able to feel like it's impossible for my sim to become friends with a sim or become romantically involved with the sim if they have nothing in common and opposing traits. A family oriented sim should not be able to easily fall in love with a sim who hates children. Further, I feel like gaining relationships should just be harder in general. Filling up the relationship meter should take longer than it does now and gaining a relationship bar should be more challenging too. I know just saying "more challening is vague" so perhaps gaining friendship points should be tied to common interests and traits. For example, if sims have complimentary traits and a lot of likes and dislikes in common, gaining friendship and even relationship points should feel effortless after several friendly or even romantic interactions are carried out by the player. However, if sims have opposing traits and very little likes and dislikes in common friendly and romantic interactions should have a far higher probability of failing and one should see glacially slow progress in moving up the friendship bar or even developing a relationship bar. It would be fun to implement some wild card chance with how easy building relationships can be if a sim has the erratic trait. For instance, maybe with that trait that could be a chance for an opposites attract influence in building the friendship/relationship meter (or perhaps this could be a random hidden ability that a sim has — as I'm typing I kind of like that idea a bit better — where a small percentage of sims can have opposites attract relationships kind of like how a small percent of sims actually like fruitcake, lol!).
School/Careers:
Reaching level 10 in your career and getting an A in school is so easy half the time you don't even have to put effort into it and it will just happen in your game without you doing anything. I feel a lot of this ease comes from the career tasks being simple and easy to fulfill and as long as your sim goes into work in a good mood (also easy to achieve since it's heavily broadcasted what things can manipulate moods) you can easily get a promotion. School is even easier as your sim just has to do their homework most days and go into school in a good mood and they'll will rise to an A without difficulty. I feel more difficulty can be injected into both by having more chance cards pop up that have a heavier impact on your sims performance in work and school. As Pixelsimmer mentioned in their response, you used to really have to ruminate on what choice you made for chance cards in the sims 2 because you could very easily end up with a pay reduction, demotion, or firing if you pick the wrong thing. In the sims 4 this is never a fear because it's highly telegraphed the consequence of your choice. I would love it if the game no longer told you what will happen if you choose one way or another but if every choice came with a consequence that has noticeable impact whether good or bad (for example, mayber your sim made a good call and they got a slight 2-3 simoleon raise, or if they make a good call they're sent home early with only half the days wages or get demoted or even fired).
Similarly, the chance cards for school barely have an impact on your sim's performance outside of character values. It would be nice if a sim deciding to not study for one exam over another resulted in their grade dropping, or if even having poor character values made it more difficult for them to finish their homework or even turn in homework that is high quality enough to impact their grade. It would be amazing if those of us with Parenthood could see a return of military school or some sort of reform school kids with bad character values who are performing poorly in school get sent to. I just think character values, while a great addition, do no impact our children and teens enough to the point of making things more difficult for them when it comes to getting an A in school. By that same token, the school projects are completely useless. They can fasttrack you to an A, but there's literally no consequence if your sim doesn't do their projects. My A and B student sims hardly ever do projects, and they really don't need to because as long as the A sims keep doing their homework they'll stay at an A, and by the time you get to be a B student, becoming an A student is so inevitable why bother? Students should have to do their projects or face negative consequences to their grades (and we shouldn't be able to sell the projects for more than what you can earn from selling a homework book become, come on, it's already easy enough to make money in this game).
Finances:
I began to touch on my third point at the end of my second talking point, so I figured I switch gears to money. It's very, very, VERY easy to make money in this game. With literally no effort, your sim can become comfortable financially without doing very much outside of just going to their jobs and earning their salary. And as outlined in my second point, being promoted is so easy, so just going to work alone will reward you insanely well that it's impossible to not be well off financially before long. While I feel that a lot of my career suggestions will help to slow down career earnings to the point where it's a bit harder to make tons of money just from going to work, the rest of the game needs work in tamping down monetary rewards that require no effort from your sims to receive. Those with the bust the dust kit should not be able to earn ANY money from dust bunnies. Not even a few simoleons. The dust bunnies shouldn't be able to bring you rare relics worth thousands of simoleons. The way you can become rich off of dust bunnies is very game breaking when it comes to challenge, and I would like to see the sims team steer completely away from implementing anything new that just gives you things from being friends with it. Similarly, a sim should not be able to become independently wealthy from dumpster diving. Your sim at current can live better by fishing out things out of the dumpster and selling the items to their invetory than they can from working a job. That's ridiculous and should not be a thing. I would love to see it made far harder to find things other than burnt items and trash in the dumpster (it would be great if there were a way to make it impossible to pay to replace burnt items obtained from the dumpster — that way the player is forced to recycle them and can't replace and resell them if they like). It would be amazing if the chances of finding not only functional undamaged items would be lowered to a percentage in the single digits, but also for the chance of finding something like a 10,000 simoleon tv being so low that one could never depend on dumpster diving to pay their bills.
With difficulty with earning money being implemented in these ways, I would love to see you guys implement a credit system where sims can take out loans. Perhaps you could use the loan system from Discovery University to achieve this? That way our sims could experience the threat of the repo man more readily if they don't pay their loans on time. Would be great to see the repo man more in general when it comes to falling behind on bills. Perhaps after the lights and water are shut off, the repo man will appear then to start taking things to satisfy your overdue bills.
Traits/Aspirations:
My final talking point is traits and aspirations. I know there has been some work put in to making traits have more of an impact on sims and I can appreciate the work that has been done there, but I would love to see them come into play more. I mentioned in my earlier talking point of relationships that I would love to see them play a bigger factor into what kinds of relationships they can develop with other sims, but building on that, it would be great to see some variety in how traits are applied. Perhaps this is too complicated, but perhaps traits play differently when paired with other traits. For example, perhaps a clumsy sim who is evil could accidentally break an item that belongs to another sim and respond to this act of clumsiness by evilly laughing to themselves and receive a happy buff while a good clumsy sim in the same scenario might get a sad moodlet. This level of variety of sims having a different configuration of traits would go a long way in actually having sims feel different and unique on a deep level that will impact gameplay because now the player has a reason to play different sims with different configurations of traits because each of these sims will actually play differently. As it stands now, all sims play exactly the same because their traits don't have enough of an impact on how they behave and interact with other sims.
When it comes to aspirations, the biggest problem with them as barring a paltry few, none of them are very aspirational. I know this was done on purposes so that players could experience playing through different ones, but if you have the time in your life to achieve dozens of aspirations, I can't help but think that none of those achievements were actual aspirations. I would love to suggest perhaps recategorizing aspirations like you did with lot traits and lot challenges. Perhaps some of the current in game aspirations can be recategorized as short-term goals (that is not a catchy name for them at all, but I can't really think of a better name for them right now!). These can be easy to achieve short-term goals that sims can complete many of in their lifetimes. Even though most simmers do not like tutorial aspirations (this simmer included — and I would like to suggest making way less of them cause they aren't particularly fun or challenging to play through), I can see a lot of the tutorial based aspirations being recategorized as these short-term goals, and perhaps that will free up room to make the more aspirational goals more challenging with more rewarding rewards. Unfortunately, a lot of the aspiration rewards aren't really that rewarding and I'd suggest making many of them available in the rewards store to buy with reward points for all sims. I want my reward for completing an aspiration to be something that my sim cannot easily achieve or obtain anywhere else in game, and I don't think many of the aspiration rewards are rewarding in that respect outside of a few. For instance, if I max out the best-selling author aspiration, I can gain the ability to bring any sim back to life with the book of life — that's awesome! But the reward for becoming fabulously wealthy is I regain 10% on purchased items in build mode? That feels utterly useless to my sim who is already filthy, stinken rich. What if instead you gained the ability to buy and sell any in game properties? That would be so awesome and would add gameplay to maxing out that aspiration.
I apologize that this is very, VERY long, but I had a lot to say, and I hope you'll take into consideration some of my points. I'm excited to see how you will improve the game and I'll be even more excited if some of my ideas are actually implement in game updates.
> @Pixelsimmer said:
> Hi!
>
> First of all thanks for this initiative! The lack of enough depth and challenge in TS4 has been a recurring concern of the community for years now and I’m hopeful something good will come out of this! I will try to be brief for the sake of whoever has to read through this (because I assume there will be hundreds of responses to process):
>
> 1.- Making the game more challenging and in-depth
> * The root of the concern: What do simmers mean when they say the game is not challenging enough? As it is, it’s way too easy to create a young adult in CAS, give them a job, make them progress in it and reach the top level of their career in a reasonable time with no setbacks. If their work life is easy, so is their social and love life: there is no challenge building new relationships, making your sim be friends with whoever and making whoever fall in love with your sim back.
>
> * I think this breaks down into three sub-themes: (i) lack of unexpected events; (ii) social and career progression is too easy; and (iii) sim self-fulfillment . I will address these three below and then (section 2) explain how I would implement these in practice, taking into account that some simmers may prefer the game to be less challenging and that’s also something to take into consideration.
>
> * Unexpected events: certain unexpected events make your sims’ lives harder and also make your sims’ lives MORE interesting. Let’s be honest here: the best part of any livestream is when something unexpected and crazy happens and we are all SHOCKED and then the player has to see what to do with what just happened. As things are now, our sims never face any unexpected obstacles that are too hard to overcome, rather, it is us players that HAVE to create those hurdles, and that feels wrong. What kind of obstacles am I talking about?
> * * Accidents / fatality: in previous games, it was rather easy to have a sim die from unexpected accidents. In the current game we get so many warnings that if your sim dies unexpectedly it’s almost considered murder by the player. You have to be VERY neglectful for your sim to die in an accident. Things such as: lightning strikes, getting shocked when repairing appliances, even death by overexertion, should have a chance of happening without any warning and at the first attempt (e.g. vending machine death takes 3 attempts, death by electrocution takes 2 attempts, etc. and you always get a warning so you know that if you force your sim to keep doing the activity they will die - this feels like murder rather than an accident).
> * More dangerous fires and disabling the ability for our sims to magically pull a fire extinguisher out of their butt and extinguish themselves would also greatly help.
>
> * Other accidents: things such as burglaries, natural disasters etc. would also be unexpected obstacles for our sims to face that would spice up the game for the player.
>
> * Chance cards: chance cards should have more dramatic consequences. I remember in previous games I was actually NERVOUS to answer chance cards because they could result in your sim getting fired or demoted. Now, I just click whatever option because I know the consequences will be mild so I can’t even be bothered to read through them. And the only chance cards that can result in something more dramatic (like gaining fame or getting demoted) ALREADY tell you the outcome!! So there is no surprise element.
>
>
> * Social progression: making friends and finding love is way too easy. I’m afraid there is no way to tackle this issue without addressing the root cause of this: sims’ personalities. Sims should not be able to make friends with just anyone; clashing traits should make it way harder for sims to bond; similar interests and hobbies should make it easier. And the same goes for love: using the preferences system, we could have a very nice attraction system that could be used to make finding love more challenging. Does your sim like your gorgeous neighbour but they don’t like your sim back? Find out what attracts them, and what interests them. Then have your sim work towards becoming an attractive sim for their neighbour, tweaking their appearance, developing new interests etc.
>
> * In relation to this point too: one-sided relationships add a lot of challenge too. It would be good if one sim could consider another sim a friend (or be in love with them) without the other reciprocating. Quite honestly, it’s a bit boring that all relationships are like that and it removes all the potential drama. Think for example, how about a sim that falls out of love with their spouse or partner for example? How about that high school crush? Why does it *have* to always be reciprocal? What you did with sentiments was a very good step in the right direction, but it would be amazing to see it in the actual relationship scores too.
>
> * In relation to the above and on the “social” and sim personality topic: it would be amazing if our sims’ personalities could become the challenge itself. First of all, it would be important to have more negative traits for our sims (flaws) and it would be very interesting if we had to always choose a flaw for our sim in CAS (because no one is perfect). You also did great with the Parenthood character value traits (which have a positive and a negative side and that you can get over time) and with fame quirks. It would be amazing if our sims could develop FLAWS and STRENGTHS over their life. Similar to what you did with lifestyles too, which I think was an amazing addition (because people’s personalities are not static and they keep developing over their lives!). These, coupled with the point above about harder relationship building, could even lead to a married couple growing apart because they develop different interests, flaws that conflict with their partners’ traits, etc. It would be our challenge to try to build that relationship back by having the sims work on their flaws, develop common interests, etc.
>
> * Career progression: reaching the top of a career is very easy. Further requirements for promotions, along with harder chance cards (see above) would greatly help. These requirements could be alternative and not cumulative. What types of requirements am I talking about? For example, in order to reach Level 8 of the business career your sim needs: (i) a degree in Economics or Communications (for those with Discover University); OR (ii) 10 friends; OR (iii) impress their boss in a preset scenario (dinner with the boss).
>
> * Sim self-fulfillment: at the end of the day, the sims is a game about making your sims’ lives happy (or miserable). Problem is: only the player is keeping track of it and sims seem unaware of it. So it would be great if our sims could have some sort of sense of self-fulfillment. The emotion system could be used for this, and could have a deeper longer term impact in our sims lives. Sims who are fulfilled, feeling mostly positive emotions etc. would have a higher “self-fulfillment” bar, while sims who are miserable or feeling negative emotions most of the time (or for prolonged amounts of time) would feel unfulfilled and perhaps go into some sort of aspiration failure like they did in TS2. A fulfilled elder sim that dies of old age, should die happily and content because they have had a good life; the opposite should happen to unfilled sims.
>
> * A happy vs unhappy death and the chances of more accidental death gives the player a sense of challenge: your challenge is to keep your sim ALIVE and FULFILLED (or if you like to torture them, unfulfilled) and to lead them to a happy elderly demise.
>
>
>
> 2.- How to implement more challenge in the game?
>
> I am aware that not everyone wants this level of challenge or may want different levels of challenge. I think what you guys did with lot challenges could be a very smart way to add a lot of challenge back.
>
> Most of the features I mentioned, such as burglars, natural disasters, death without warnings, harder chance cards, etc. could definitely be implemented as lot features. And all the challenges relating to social progression (attraction system, interests system, chemistry, etc.) could be optional in the game menu; or there could just be a purchasable reward in the reward store to make your sim super attractive and friendly and annul any challenge in that regard.
>
> Thinking “bigger”, I would ideally implement different difficulty modes (in the game menu): easy, medium and hard, where the current game is the “easy” mode, and all the added challenges I mentioned (and more that I’m sure I haven’t thought about) could be added.
>
> I’m sorry for the lengthy post. I hope this feedback is helpful!
Make sims actually do things “together” as in interacting with each while doing an activity. As it is now it just feels like it’s a group of sims doing the same thing at the same time in the same area, but not actually doing it “with” the other sims. Kids on a playground should be “playing together” …. Swinging, and sliding, chasing each other, hiding from each other, going back to the swing, etc. They should actually be interacting “with” the other kids on the playground. That is normal behavior for kids. Make kids behave like kids and not miniature adults.
Make traits actually be relevant. Slob sims should not autonomously clean up the dishes, take the trash out, dust, etc. Lazy sims should not autonomously be doing push-ups or jogging, etc. Bookworm sims should not be obsessed with the computer and gaming. 9x outta 10 I just randomly assign traits because sims ALL ACT THE SAME WAY, no matter what trait you assign them.
We need some sort of attraction system. As it is now, all my sims are bi-sexual in my game. I don’t want that, I want certain sims to be attracted to and pursue a relationship with only sims of the opposite gender or those that I determine who are more open to all love genders, to pursue who they choose. We should be able to set their gender preferences and decide on what type of sim they are attracted to.
Also, we need some sort of “faithful” or “committed” trait (if it actually worked) or a CAS assignment we could set for that particular sim. You already have the total opposite of this with the “Free Love” NAP. Why not have something similar for monogamous relationships?
Teens or young adults that move out of their parent’s house should not be scolded for cooking or sleeping over when they come back for a visit. Imagine if your parents did that to you in RL and treated you just like you were a neighbor or acquaintance. That’s just wrong!
Sims are wayyyyyy too happy … all of the time. That is not realistic, even upbeat cheerful RL people have days they are less bubbly and happy. Maybe they have a stressful job assignment coming up and they’re distracted, maybe they had a fight with a friend or loved one, maybe they learned of someone close to them passing away ….. things happen that will effect our moods in RL, even if we are a “happy” person.
There are no random events that happen in TS4, that’s part of what makes it boring because along with the traits making all sims appear to be a clone of each other, nothing spontaneous or random happens to totally change the story you had in your head. Part of life is how you overcome obstacles and learn from them or that certain events shape your future life. That doesn’t happen in TS4. For example if you play one sim in a certain way and then play a totally different sim in the exact same way, you already know exactly what’s going to happen because there’s no random event that will change your story and since all the sim’s personalities are clones of each other, the story’s outcome is the same as the previous story.
Update the whims, there are players, like myself, who enjoy whim driven playstyles. But they need to make sense. The whims should be reflective on the sims individual traits. Not every sim should want a pool or to buy a bee box! Unflirty sims should not get a whim to kiss a stranger, etc. Update them, add more, but most importantly …. Make them relevant and make sense to that indivudal sims unique personality.
Multi-purpose lots would really help create more depth and better gameplay. Players should be able to create a lot and place down all required items for each specific lot type they want to combine, and it actually function and attract sims to use those items or partake in those activities.
Bring back random burglars and break-ins. It could be a lot challenge that would allow this lot to possibly be targeted to be broken into. (Great for players who want to play in a less savory world save!) Players could also buy an alarm to prevent it. We have cops in the game already, they could come and handcuff the burglars and take them away. The burglars could also lose reputation points because they were caught and the entire neighborhood is gossiping because they saw them get taken away by the cops. You have already implemented a “stealing” act into the game with Eco Living …. The “Sharing is Caring” NAPs. Only thing is, these stealing sims don’t get into trouble, what type of message are you sending your young players you’re catering to ….. That stealing or “borrowing” something that isn’t yours is okay and you won’t get in trouble if you do it too?
Bring back the schoolbus, taxis, and different career cars. It was really fun and fulfilling when your sim would get a promotion and you’d wonder what type of vehicle would be picking them up for work the next day. There’s already fake cars driving around in most neighborhoods.
Also public transportation would be great, bus stops in each neighborhoods…. Sims could walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus to show up, get on the bus and then zoom off screen for the loading screens.
Keep other world sims in their own neighborhoods. Nobody in RL sees the same people in every city or venue they visit. Neighborhoods should use local sims who live in it as walkbys. The game should use player created sims to fill community lots first if there are enough available sims before generating more random townies.
Better and more realistic interactions for the "object babies" ..... tweak the animations so that they are a fluid movement depending on what you have queued up ...... you don't pick up a crying baby to comfort them, lay them back down in the bed, then pick them back up to feed them, then lay them and pick them back up to play with them, etc and do another interaction with them ..... you pick them up and comfort them, feed them, play with them and lay them down when you are changing them or they are happy and sated. No parent lays their baby back down in a crib each and every time they are getting ready to interact with that baby.
- cheating is too easy in the sims 4😭 i liked how the sims 3 made it difficult to hide ur affair from the gossiping townies, having to make sure u wont get caught in public or they’ll tell ur partner. The betrayed moodlet ur partner got which made it impossible to do any romance or positive interactions with them. And that they got to decide to dump or forgive u when the moodlet was gone. Or when ur sim has the reputation of a cheater they will get turned down by other sims they try to pursue in the future. I miss cheating having actual big consequences. I did a cheating storyline the other day and it was so disappointing how little my sims family seemed to be affected by it.
- it’s so hard for ur sims to die, i miss when the game threw me a curveball and unexpectedly made a sim die by electrocution or even a meteor shower lmao
- autonomy needs fixing (idk if this is just a glitch in my game or if the autonomy of sims is actually bad for everyone) i have my autonomy on high yet my sim only seems to be doing the same thing over and over again out of her own (drinking water or calling on the phone) also i’d like for there to be autonomous flirting (w maybe an option to disable it for the ppl that don’t want this) it’s weird when both sims are flirty and have some romance together yet they keep doing mischievous interactions with eachother
-i wish that when ur sim is pursuing an npc, they wont have to put in all the work. It would be fun if the npc could ask ur sim to start dating if they got high romance and u haven’t asked them to be ur gf/bf yet. Or when u haven’t spend time with ur so in a while you’ll get a break up text or u can lose romance etc
also i know this doesn’t add any challenge or depth but i really really miss my sims being able to cuddle in the same bed while they’re sleeping hihi
For example: I like the errands but after a while they are much too easy und they are allways the same. If I had a errand editor I could build my own more challenging errands and could share them with other players. And I also could build errands which were specific for the other worlds.
Another example: I like playing historical or survival challenges. If I play castaway I would like to be able to switch off the grid in the whole neighborhoud or world and disable bills. It's annoying having to pay bills on a lonley island far away from the civilization.
If I want to play a realistic scenario I need a bunch of mods.
A world build tool would also be nice. Not to build new worlds only to change a few details. For example when I play rags to riches I like dumpster diving but it is only possible in Evergreen Harbour. I would like to be able to build more community places like playgrounds so the sims don't have to travel to a community lot. And I would like to place the objects from a pack to other worlds not depending to this pack.
This is also only possible with a mod.
I like the new lot challenges but they should be reworked. Some are not really challenging. Simple Living is too easy with having a delivery service and I allways select the vulcano to get the gifts. The earthquake is boring because nothing worse happens. The sims a frightened for a few hours and thats all.
For more depth the bills should depend on the neighbourhood the sims live. Living in De Sol Valley should be more expensive as living in Sulani. And the bills should not depend on the value of the lot and the sims inventory. Why should my sim pay more when he buys a new/better sofa?
In terms of more depth and challenge to the game, my suggestions are probably quite familiar at this point. I would love for sims to feel unique and for their personalities to provide some challenge within the game. As of now I can practically have any sim in the game, regardless of traits, to do whatever I want; practice any skill, befriend anyone in the game, marry anyone within a day, and so forth. Traits seem inconsequential and barely affect gameplay or relationship gain which makes the sims 4 lack depth. The likes and dislikes system helped a little with this, and it was definitely a step in the right direction, as was the update on traits a few months ago, however, these still feel superficial. If personality sliders are not possible in the sims 4, it would be nice to get more updated traits (e.g. traits that affect autonomous behavior) as well as a variety of them (it feels like we have so few of them). And perhaps, instead of having the same idle animations for every sim it would be nice if these changed depending on the traits. Like how erratic sims seem to talk to themselves, I wish that most if not all the traits had unique visible quirks that told them apart and gave your sims a little more personality. And again for these traits to have an impact in their relationship gain (e.g. if we had a cowardly trait maybe sims with this trait would be unwilling to talk to ghosts or vampires and have a harder time gaining a positive relationship with these sims, or have family oriented sims avoid noncommittal sims, etc.). Also, it would be nice to have traits that are actually traits? Personally, I enjoy the game having dietary restrictions, but vegetarian and lactose intolerant aren’t traits and we have so few slots as is. If sims didn’t feel unique with 3 traits, they seem even less so with 2 traits and a dietary restriction.
In addition to more unique traits, I feel like one of the problems with sims lacking depth is that relationship points between sims are shared. Sentiments were a great improvement on this but relationships should still be one sided. This would allow for one-sided conflict between sims; we could have one-sided crushes, a cheating sim might not have their relationship towards the spouse affected but the spouse would see a dramatic decrease in their relationship with the cheating sim, etc. Moreover, sims actions or major life events should have an impact or some form of consequence not only to the target sims but sims involved in the situation. As an example if parent sims get divorced, their children should be impacted by this, maybe get an angry or sad moodlet, or go through a phase; if a sim is expecting a baby, grandparents and uncles of the would-be newborn object should get excited too, etc. Memories could also be a huge improvement for depth in these cases, perhaps the child with the divorce parents could get a sad moodlet when remembering their parent’s divorce, making a life event like this affect gameplay in general and at the same time making sims feel unique based on some of their memories and past experiences. Memories wouldn't have to be extensive to improve depth in the game, they would only need to cover important events in a sim's life like it did on sims 2.
Moreover, an attraction system can also improve challenges within the sims 4. Again, I can have any sim marry another sim within a sim day. Although it’s great for players who like to control every aspect of storytelling (which you can cheat anyway), it’s not for those of us who would like the game to provide some form of direction. At some point I would like the game to surprise me, or to make it difficult for me to marry my sim off to the other sim I spent 30 minutes creating in cas. I would like for an attraction system to impact how well or poorly my sim’s date go (rather than conversing with a sims 10 times) or how slowly or rapidly their relationship gain is, and if they can marry at all.
I also feel like a “wants and fears” system would greatly improve depth and provide a challenge in the game. So far, all we have is whims, which seem to vary only with the sim's surroundings and rarely with a sim's personality trait (why do they all want a bee box?). Whims also only impact sims in a positive way if you do them and there is no consequence if you miss them. It would be nice to have whims re-done in a way that is similar to the wants and fears of sims 2, where they impacted your sims in a positive or negative way depending on how or if you accomplished these.
Aspirations are not aspirations, just tutorials for the players which are super easy to do(if you can complete like 10 aspirations in a sim's life, these don’t feel like aspirations at all). It would be nice to have actual aspirations (not tied to a job, location or skill) in the game which were not interchangeable, and offered unique challenges within a sim's entire lifespan, or at least from teenagehood to adulthood. There are no real aspirations for teens in the sims, making this life stage feel lacking and a lifelong aspiration might help provide challenge and depth to this life stage (as well as elder sims).
And lastly, money in the game is way too easy to make, even without cheats, and there’s no way to spend it except on utility bills. There are no hospital bills (even when having a baby if you don’t buy a crib the game will gift you one… that’s 250 simoleons right there), no education bills (other than university), sims can change their hair and appearance at no cost at all. Once you make money there’s no real monetary challenge in the game. It would be nice to have options in game that added more challenge to this, e.g. option of private vs public school, illnesses that were consequential in the game and actually cost money to cure, transportation costs, shopping for clothes, etc. A loan system with interest could also improve on this. Right now we can only take out loans with the university pack, and you pay back what you borrowed. If sims could take out loans (to buy a house, furniture, etc.), especially when they are starting out, and then have to pay back the money plus interest it would definitely add some challenges to the game. Also getting a job is very easy too. It would be nice if getting an actual job was like the acting gigs in get famous, where you sort of have to interview for them (perhaps not in all jobs but maybe for more demanding roles?).
Overall I feel like the sims 4 has tried to make the game as easy and friendly as possible. Although it is appreciated, this is a life simulation game after all, and life provides many challenges. The sims franchise has been around for a long time and most players expect certain features. I know this must be challenging as a developer to create new content, however, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Sims 2 seems to be a great game and it can be used as an example to create the content that a lot of the players have asked for to create some depth and challenge within the game. However, there is no denying that this year has seen a great improvement in the sims 4 content, and venues for communication like this one show that the sims team is striving to improve the game even more. Thank you for your hard work and I look forward to new and improved content within the sims 4.
[b]What would you expect from it?[/b]
When I think of depth needed in The Sims 4 I think mainly of what could be done about the immersion. Everywhere seems like the same place with a different coat of paint. It is as they say, you can leave the place you were, but "you" follows you there. The sims themselves feel the same personality-wise. In my opinion, we need more "meat" in a sense. I love people. To me, people are extremely interesting, but the aspects that make people interesting are not really present in the sims. I think more consequences for social actions as well as a system that incorporates past experiences or learned behaviors much like the new likes and dislikes system. I feel the traits we are allowed could be meaningfully expanded as well. The sims, without things like this, end up being one singular sim, a mirror of the player themself. If the sims had a way of leading (not babying) us onto a story, it would be amazing and greatly appreciated. Perhaps there could be different mannerisms (similar to the walk styles) that could help reflect their personalities.
[b]How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?[/b]
If there were ways in which individual sims felt different and more like people I would come back for certain.
[b]What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?[/b]
[list]
[*] individualization of sims
[*] transportation
[*] rabbit holes
[*] condensed locations
[*] mobility
[*] value in drama and tragedy
[/list]
I would say, above all else, the reason I struggle with live mode in the Sims 4, is LOADING SCREENS. I understand that the open world in Sims 3 caused heavy lag and burdened lower end computers, so an entirely open world would be impractical. However, with the introduction of sub-neighborhoods in the Sims 4, I think eliminating loading screens within these smaller areas would exponentially increase the depth and liveliness of a neighborhood. For example, my Sim lives in Foundry Cove and would like to go to their neighbor's for a chat. A loading screen in between their houses is immersion breaking, and makes me less likely to interact with the world around me - which is a shame, because worlds and lots in the Sims 4 are so beautiful!
Otherwise, there have been many recent additions to the Sims 4 that have been helpful in increasing depth. Sentiments especially have made our Sims feel more alive. I think expanding sentiments - increasing their length, strength, and adding variety - would be helpful to this. One of the reasons sentiments have been such an improvement to core gameplay is because Sims can have DIFFERENT feelings to one another. This is similar to the Sims 2, where Sims had entirely different relationships to one another. I think Sims having varying feelings towards one another would add variety and depth to the game.
In a similar vein, I think reintroducing the ATTRACTION SYSTEM would make Sims and their relationships feel more alive. Preferences like "muscular" "or "rich" similar to the Sims 2 could be reintroduced, and attraction could be increased based on traits and interests. One Sim may be attracted to another due to their preferences, but that Sim may not like them back!
Regarding traits, I think some traits like "vegetarian" should be moved to the preference system. Traits should also be more influential in how Sims relate to one another. RELATIONSHIPS should be more difficult to earn in general, but it should be a true struggle for Sims with conflicting traits! Sims should no longer become good friends by taking 10 photos of another.
Speaking of relationships, another aspect where depth and realism could be added is STORY PROGRESSION and NPC autonomy. NPCs should marry one another, break up, move, have children, etc. without player feedback. This could include the player's NPC partner breaking up with them when they gain a bad sentiment or proposing to them when they gain a good sentiment, or if they have been in a relationship for a while. A vital aspect of story progression is enabling the player to learn about it. Texts are already ubiquitous in the Sims 4, and the player may sometimes receive calls from NPCs asking about marriage or pregnancy. Sims could announce their pregnancy via text rather than ask for advice. NPC Sims filling empty lots is already an aspect of the game, but imagine if Sims received a notification when they had new neighbors! Our Sims could be part of the Welcome Wagon for the NPC family. I also loved the GOSSIP NOTIFICATIONS from the Sims 3! It made the NPC sims feel much more alive.
Moreover, I think the AI of the NPC Sims should be improved. The Sims 4 has the smartest Sims yet, so I wish they would act like it :smiley: Stranger NPCs interact with my Sims on community lots and interrupt meaningful conversations. Perhaps NPCs should only interact with Sims if they already know them. Also, in Sims 3, if I cheated on my partner in front of their friend, the partner would confront my Sim! It feels as there are no CONSEQUENCES for my Sims' actions. It is too easy to cheat on a partner or convince an NPC to cheat with me.
I think one way my feelings could be summed up is a need for VARIETY. There should be random chances in the game with NEGATIVE OUTCOMES. Maybe my Sim's partner breaks up with them because they simply aren't feeling it anymore. Maybe a chance card that appears during my Sim's job results in a demotion or firing. Deaths also don't happen very randomly - we have several chances before Sims die, so their deaths feel like murder rather than random results. When we receive chance cards like the Inheritance Call, perhaps there should be a variety of outcomes - "One of the conditions of earning the money was you could NOT ask for conditions!" That way, we don't know the outcome when we make our selection.
Finally, what truly makes the Sims feel alive is SMALL DETAILS, often animations. In the Sims 4, animations and responses often feel larger-than-life. One of my favorite mods is one that incorporates environmental or mood reactions into the walking animation, so Sims don't drop what they're doing in order to react! This way, emotions and reactions feel more integrated. Other small details include Sims who are lovers cuddling in bed, like in Sims 3, or interactions like throwing food during a meal like in Sims 2. Although this isn't base game, one of my favorite interactions in Sims 4 is when kittens play with yarn from Nifty Knitting. Interactions between pacts make the game feel fleshed out and well-developed.
With all that being said, the most important aspect of realism and depth for me would be LOADING SCREENS. I understand an open world game is not possible, but at the very least, lots within the same neighborhood (or, perhaps, apartment building) should not require loading screens. Loading screens are the most immersion-breaking aspect of the game and greatly decrease realism and depth.
When writing this, I aimed to make my suggestions as realistic as possible, inspired by current mechanics of the game and mechanics of previous games. Thank you for this opportunity and I'm excited to see how the game continues to grow!
I tried to figure out a way to talk about adding depth or challenges to the sims without creating a wishlist. This was hard so I apologize for those times I sound whishlisty.
Let's talk about relationships....I think it would be more challenging if my sim couldn't meet, marry and have a child on the same day. I think friendships and relationships should take longer to develop. I know the complex irl but they are too easy in the game and prove no challenge at all. For example, my sim doesn't like her neighbor because she plays music late at night but she speaks to her like they are friends. They should not be speaking at all unless that jerk apologizes for being disrespectful. Then the cheating 🐸🐸🐸🐸 that left my sim pregnant and moves in with someone else should have to pay child support and take the baby on weekends. There is no judge to force this to happen. He just gets to pretend they never happened.
Skills: When a sim learns (max skill) a skill then there is nothing to do from there. I feel like this could be more complex like having skill trees and instead of maxing the whole skill, they can max parts or open new trees. I think the way we learn some skill is too easy. So like handiness can be split up so you can learn to fix things or learn to create things but you would have to take a class. Having the younger sims learn some skills in school would bring some depth to the game. Having some younger sims have trouble learning or refusing to learn would be interesting to play as well. I love the simple living challenge but one step further would be having to learn the recipes instead of already knowing them.
Careers: I think careers are not a challenge at all. I think having careers that you can only apply to if you have a degree would be a challenge. Also having to apply for the job and going on an interview would too. I think that would be great. Having your sim create a resume and pick out the right outfit. An aptitude test would tell your sim where they should apply. The doctor career drives me crazy, I feel like sims should start that in school and be an intern instead of starting as an orderly. Having the doctor career having different career lines would be good as well. My sim would have to apply to be a surgeon and if they don't get accepted they would have to work harder or apply to be an intern. Changing careers is too easy as well. A sim should have to explain why they left their job. Maybe rags to riches could be a lot challenge as well. Instead of having the skills or doing one thing to get a promotion, your sim could stay late or wine and dine with the supervisor. It would depend on the job.
Consequences are few in the Sims 4. A sim can kill off another sim without worry (My sims would never do this). If my child sims skips school nothing happens. No trouble for stealing or cheating. Having my sim die because of laughter and trying to bring her back to life was one of the most fun things I have done in the sims 4.
The commitment to improving the present game rather than focusing on a brand new project has not gone unnoticed. I also want to take a moment to applaud how connected and socially aware The Sims community has remained.
As I scrolled through this feed, I read a lot of great suggestions for the future of The Sims 4 and I am excited for what the future holds. I don't have a long and detailed submission to post here because most of what I have to say is already in the beginning of my dissertation. You see, I am a psychology student, and my passion for psychology - which has turned into my career which keeps a roof over mine and my daughter's head, started with The Sims. I first started playing The Sims when I was about 7 years old. Over the years, my relationship with The Sims has evolved and gone through many phases of separation and reunion - much like one would expect with a "twin flame". Today, I see The Sims as a tool for personal and social development because its resemblance to reality balanced with familiar and macabre novelty makes it a star player when it comes to increasing self and cultural awarness as well as holding personal interest. One of my life dreams is to publish peer reviews literature supporting the use of The Sims in counseling practice so that others can experience the life-changing benefits from The Sims that I have.
Therefore, I have only one request:
Please continue to use current and research-supported psychology models as a foundation of future development.
Will Wright's interest in architectural and environmental psychology and social development birthed The Sims franchise. I am have remained grateful to see that The Sims continues to hold true to its innately psychological existence. I hope to see this remain as one of the strongest elements of The Sims. The foundation of psychology present in The Sims 4 and previous versions of The Sims games sets them apart from all other simulations games and the "learning made fun" feeling provided by the game has already changed many lives for the better. I hope to amplify this effect with my academic contributions.
Thank you for your time.
Dag dag.
LOT CHALLENGES
I love that the traits that make things a but more difficult on the lot were separated out, but most of them already existed so outside of the Cottage Living ones they're not really creating new gameplay. Some suggestions for lot traits:
1. Space Enthusiast trait - alien abductions occur more frequently, neighbors more likely to be aliens, slight increase in meteor storms
2. Inclement Weather trait - lot experiences bad weather more frequently ex. thunderstorms, blizzards, etc
3. Farm trait - must place at least 1 farm plot and 1 animal shed, boost to crop and animal produce yield, slight boost to animal happiness
4. Bug Infestation trait - crops are infested with bugs more frequently
5. Drought trait - crops need to be watered more frequently, cost of water higher, may have nonvoluntary water shut offs
*2-5 would work well for farming/gardening let's plays
6. Harder to Conceive trait (we have ways to make it very easy to have children, this would make it not so easy but still possible) - Sims have to try for baby for often before getting pregnant, using fertility treatment recommended
7. Poverty trait - Sims lose all their money and the house is destroyed upon moving in (similar to starting Rags to Riches challenge)
8. Bring back random lot challenges that could happen when you bought non-empty lot in the Sims 3 where your Sim has to either accept the offer of help from the npc that showed up or be stuck with the challenge permanently (challenges were: bug infestation, ancient burial ground - ghosts, flooding - broken water items, meteor aftermath - burnt items & ash piles, and squatter's squalor - trash & rats).
SIMS
1. Childhood Stages - need to be differentiated more. There should be activities that only one stage can do. Also, with the scout badge system, make more badges that only teens can get. Hair and clothing also need more unique options as most are just copies of adult options.
2. Aspirations - Need more depth and stages. Many feel like basic tutorials and then they're done.
3. Friendship System - It's hard to tell where you are in each stage. Please bring back the 100 point bar or percentages. Also it's annoying when acquaintances drop off friends list. You shouldn't have to keep introducing yourself to the same person over and over just because you haven't talked to them for a few days. Strangers should drop off if not interacted with, but everyone else should remain.
MISC GAMEPLAY
1. There's an outline of a body in one of the apartments and it would be neat if we could solve the mystery of that person's death. I don't know if this is something that could be added to Detective career as a side quest/job or if it would be something for a pack (if pack then could add murder scenes to more houses/apartments)
2. Burglars - If these return, there are a few tweaks I'd like to see to make them less frustrating.
a) All Sims should be able to fight them. Winner will be one with higher fitness and/or buffs to fighting from other traits.
b) The burglar should not be able to run past a cop without being engaged AT ALL.
c) Of burglar is successful there should be a message saying exactly what was stolen.
3. Gravestone/Urn for farm animals. Minor but for people that consider them as part of the family, this would be nice addition.
4. Retail Stores/Restaurants - Family members, including kids, should be able to be employees so business can be a family owned/run one.
5. Bank Loan system similar to student loans would be great for more realistic gameplay of buying a house, but it should be optional.
6. Going to university is boring. There needs to be some interactive courses instead of just rabbit holes.
7. Roommate system needs tweaking. It takes too long for anyone to show up a lot of the time, and sometimes no one shows up and you have to keep putting in new ads.
This was longer than I thought it would be. Sorry! If you made it to the end - THANKS!! :D
Both sims should work für The relationship
CAS:
1. Create a Style return but in a more manageable way: The Sims 3 Create a Style was ambitious and was very free but resulted in lag for players especially running on and older system or with many DLCs, the sims 4 could fix this by having a lesser one but one that's still present (Make it for hair, eyes, eyebrows, and skin tone and make it just colour change not pattern change) Hopefully it would allow simmers more freedom of creating their dream sims without sacrificing so much play-ability due to lag
2. Make Feminine clothing already in basegame/other packs fir Masculine sims: Today we live in a society that is less strict in gender and the sims 4 embraced that by adding the ability of being trans, however the cas items would disagree, it's obvious that masculine sims get less cas then feminine sims but the real issue is that masculine sims can't wear feminine outfits (specifically top/full body) since a breast shadow is formed. I would request you edit some or even all the feminine outfits to fit masculine sims, it would help go a long way
3. Make all the makeup fit masculine sims: Same as before, some makeup looks awkward on masculine sims so it would be nice if you went through and fixed it
4. More male CAS would be nice in the base game: The hairs and clothing are very lacking in the base game for masculine sims, that being said please don't take CAS from other packs to fix this issue
Build/Buy
1. Make walls, half walls, pools, platforms and everything that is stuck to a grid pattern (beside columns) have access to half tile spaces: The biggest limit to building is the tile system and I understand that free building walls would be hard and sometimes disastrous for simmers to try and use but I believe everything I mentioned would succeed on half-tile, it gives more freedom but at the same time make's it easy to build with (I would recommend like furniture, you have to hit F5 to switch from only full tile to half tile in case there are some simmers who feel overwhelmed to use it)
2. Make columns free from the grid all together: Honestly this one confuses me the most how restricted columns are especially since if they were free to move anywhere using alt, simmers could make innovative things with them like base game canopy beds, cool art, etc.)
3. Make railings be able to place on one or the other side of the stairs: This one would make a huge difference for me since there are certain railings I cannot use (like the Strangerville one) inside my house since my stairs are usually against a wall but the railing sticks through the wall (maybe even make it auto remove like the ladder on the bunk bed when you place stairs against the wall)
4. Add matching wood swatches/swatches in general: There are many items that clash (especially from pack to pack) mainly because of non-matching wood swatches
Gameplay:
1. Wants and Fear system: Sims are very bland in the sims 4, I feel a wants and fear system could help personalize the sims even more, the preferences system is a great start but you can push it further and make sims even more customizable
2. Add more preferences category/remove some "traits": The traits that should honestly be removed are the vegetarian trait (city living now base game) and the lactose intolerance trait (cottage living). These are not traits that define a person and takes up a third of the slot that could be defining the sim with actual traits like slob, lazy, neat, snob, etc. instead, make new preferences for food diet, is the sim vegetarian? vegan? lactose intolerance? etc. this way you don't waste a slot just because you don't want your sim to autonomously eat meat
3. Fix the whim system: You stopped updating the whim system and left it to die, you could incorporate this into the wants and fear system I mentioned before and make it an award to complete a want (get some points), and if failed get a debuff (probably negative emotion)
4. Fix emotions: The emotion system is way out of wack, negative emotions are not strong enough and emotions that were added to preferences should cover the happy trait when doing something you hate (I won't be feeling happy even though I'm doing something I hate just because I ate some fruitcake an hour ago, that's unrealistic)
Bonus (Probably Going to be ignored lol)
1. Add a pool table
Thanks for reading through my long list, I hope mine and other people's comment helps make the sims 4 improve as a game
It shouldnt be everything alright like Forever
Is there any mod that has corrected this?
Is this a setting that can be changed?
I just want to be able see my sims when they are talking to someone without getting dragged upwards.