The game should provide advanced settings for more experienced players, like the MC Command Center mod. Did you see how many wonders we did with the debug itens? We love messing with things like that. Talk to the modders! They are a great source of ideas.
I'd like to address the core of the lack of challenge complains and discuss it using example from the game. So the reason behind it all is... the way Gurus plan the features. I recognise their hard work and ideas, but I think they need to change the trajectory of how they brainstorm. Every newly added mechanic seems to revolve around the question "How can it reward the player?". And in my opinion to fix both the depth and the challenge problems, there needs to be a new question - "What options can it give to the player/What different outcomes and combinations and different stories can this mechanic tell". Not everything has to be about the rewards. Sometimes new things to do are enough. I'll give a couple of examples of poorly implemented mechanics in terms of challenge:
1. The most recent example obvious candidate - Bust the dust. The kit encourages player to do barely nothing. Instead of busting the dust, the game rewards the player for everything, either as a buff, or veeeery expensive items from dust bunnies. If every outcome is some kind of reward, what's there for a player to do if there is no real bad outcome? 2. Realm of Magic. The spells are cheats. The spells and potions are there to cheat your way though a relationship, cleaning, fixing, gardening or needs. How many stories can I tell with cheating in forms of spells? Not a lot because the outcome will always be good. And if not, casting the same spell again will make everything alright. And with how easy it is to get rid of a curse or even quite hard to get one? Even less challenge and depth. How about spells that aren't cheats but completely new interactions like changing someone into a frog (but permanently until spell is broken by a kiss or a decursify, not like a buff driven Morphiate or Strangefy). Because another thing for depth is lack of long-lasting consequences. 3. Country Living wild rabbits and birds. I like the idea of them helping in garden a lot, but why the gifts again? First dust bunnies and now animals? The "exchange ratio" he is 1:2. You have to do 1 thing (befriend them) and they'll do 2 things for you (help in the garden and bring gifts). If anything the reward ratio should be kept 1:1. You get one thing for one task or more rewards require more effort. 4. Seasons scarecrow. As if we didn't already have a gardener, now the scarecrow will do his job for free. I think the choice between "Do it yourself for free, but that requires time" and "Hire someone, but that costs money" is more interesting than the easy solution of befriending a scarecrow and not having to worry about the garden, because the task is simple and then there are no costs/sacrifices from the player's side. Not to mention there already is a reward that makes services free, so why give another option like that? Isn't that just repeating yourself?
Also I think to improve the depth the developers need to ask themselves "And what after" when discussing a potential feature. The NAPs from Eco Lifestyle were a nice idea, but they're quite useless after 4 voting rounds and it's so easy to get influence points that a Sim can end up being a dictator and singlehandedly decide the plan by the time 2nd or 3rd week comes. Features need to be more dynamic and versatile so they can be used more than once in more than just one way. Same goes for Sulani. We can clean it, have a dive get a suntan. But then there's a question "What now?". It's another example of why meaningful, repeatable and adjustable mechanics are important.
For base game, the money from painting, writing and gardening needs to be reduced, because if players have to actively stop their Sims from becoming rich, the money system is broken. Being rich should be an achievement you work towards to, not something you try to stop from happening because the game shoves you money from everything.
Now not to be all complainy, I'd like to praise some mechanics and ideas I think were executed well and are a step into a right direction.
1. Paranormal stuff pack. It's a great example of implementing a challenge that doesn't come with big rewards per se. It still rewards, but it's hard to get the expensive stuff from ghosts. Meanwhile the player has to actively and regularly maintain a good spirituality level. It also plays on the opposite of the reward idea I've described above, so "Do it or else you'll be punished" which is also what makes it fun! 2. Country Living farm animals. They're a chore. And it's a good thing. Having to regularly feed and clean them requires engagement and sets some conditions for a player. And there should be more mechanics like that.
Remember, a good challenge isn't a checklist of one time tasks for a reward, but a mechanic that engages the player and requires effort from them. Only then it can feel like a challenge and can provide a player with a sense of accomplishment.
i’m so excited for participate in this! one thing i’ve been wondering as a console player is why we don’t have the “save as” button that would allow us to make different versions of our saves and maybe even make our own save files, especially cause we can’t download community ones. i would love to be able to renovate all of my worlds and fill up newcrest and then play in that for all of my games.
Thanks for providing a Feedback-Session! Always wanted to provide what I think how TS4 could provide better gameplay and more. I belong to the ones who do complain a lot about what it should have. But I also appreciate what we have! Here I am expressing how I feel about SIMS 4 telling you what I would expect it would have after paying for all packs! I am a gamer who wants to enjoy this game! Not only kids play this game! The adults are the ones who can afford actually this game, you know
ANIMATIONS & RELATIONSHIPS IN GENERAL
I truly miss some cute animations like holding hands while walking together for a little along the street. Holding the one in arms while gazing at the stars. A romantic dance between couples on music - I'm tired of watching single dancers especially if they are married and love each other. Giving may a kiss on the forehead. Romantic Animations are seriously lacking in depth.
Simply a bunch of other cute animations like
different chilling sofa/bed interactions for all ages (laying/sitting cross-legged while reading a book, drinking a drink, chatting with bestie, love, etc.)
couples hugging/holding hands while watching movies together
more romantic interactions in general - looking at Sims 2 I'm getting depressed about how many variations that old game had regarding romance/dating/ break-up and even their consequences compared to TS4. Sims 2 had way more charming relatable interactions.
Dates mostly succeed in TS4 even if they fail there is no real consequence. In TS2 a Sim would have told you... look dude you are nice but your flat is horrible - I'm not interested in continue to date you. Something like this would be dope as heck. Or I would love to see that the sim is randomly telling you look you are cool and all but we don't match stands up and leaves... Again nothing we do in TS4 has consequences as in previous games.
I don't want to be the one who always has to start the flirting - It always works out in most cases - quite boring! It never fails - Like dude, I don't like you! Period! Keep dreaming it won't be me. Even cheating has not really a huge effect besides having the being sad-effect. After a while, they act as if nothing happened. And you can easily smooth it out. There is no real memory here that their loved one cheated on them for example. I wish we would have more drama. Breaking - Up and Making Up or a back and forth interaction would be for sure interesting. Like kissing and then refusing to continue etc. A break-up message? I fell out of love! It's over, okay? Or listen I cheated on you, I love her/him - I'm ending our relationship. Honey, we have been married for 20 Sim-Days I'm having an affair with someone and I want a divorce! Bye! Autonomous proposal by the partner - cool! More autonomous decisions.
It would be heart-melting cute or devastating heartbreaking and wonderful to watch and experience some relatable things based on real life. We are all emotional creatures and we want to suffer with our Sims together. Yeah, and we desire to be happy for our Sims, too. If we cannot control certain reactions or decisions by other sims? That would enrich the gameplay and give some life!
SIMS RELATIONS
It always bothered me massively that I cannot set the relations between the sims in CAS except being siblings and wife/husband. I mean this is so basic and badly needed. All options would be needed! Friends should be also an option, HECK YES!
Boy/Girlfriend
Life Partner
Affair
Auntie/Uncle
Cousin
Grandma/Grandpa
Step-Parents / Half-Siblings
Friends
I really wish to be able to create a Household based on their relationship with each other in CAS. Sadly not possible.
CHARACTER DEPTH
Something like Zodiac Signs would be great. I find myself using the same traits over and over again - and it's boring as heck. Sorry, I'm not bashing the "Story-Creator" in CAS but at the end of the day, it does not provide what I wish the Sims would have. A depth in their character hence why I refuse to use the "Story-Creator". That's simply not that what I wish to have as I belong to those who can come up with a story myself - a nice tool for those who have difficulties creating a backstory, tho.
SPLIT TRAITS AND ADD PREFERENCES
How about real character traits? A bunch of the traits describes rather their Lifestyle / Hobby / or Preferences instead of their real character.
The current existing traits do not provide character and certain behaviors for a sim in order to call that Sim a character. Some have character but no Hobbies or no Lifestyle, others don't have character, but do live a certain Lifestyle, have a hobby, etc. So how do Hobbies and Lifestyles relate to having a sim with character? It doesn't make them complete regarding their behaviors!
Three traits don't give the Sim the depth they would need unless those traits would be used only for real character-related traits.
But Hobbies, Lifestyle, and Preferences (multiple selections need be possible to be selected as in likes/dislikes). They should have their own slots or another way to be added to the Sim. I would say this is essential to complete a Sim with a character, of course!
At the end of the day we need a restructure of the traits that describe only character-related traits. As I mentioned it should not contain their "Lifestyle, Hobby, or Preference.
With * marked traits are suggestions - the other ones already exist in-game. They need to be split into the following categories. Maybe not 100% accurate but you get me, right?
Preferences would be everything that is hobby and lifestyle-related!
Hobbies
Art Lover, Fitness-Enthusiast*, Bookworm, Foodie, Geek, Maker, Musik Lover, Dance Machine, Collector*, Gardener* Fishing* Traveller, Artist*, Writer*, Cook*, Houseworker*, etc.
Lifestyle
Adventurous, Animal Enthusiast, Explorer*, Glutton, Lactose Intolerant, Vegetarian, Lazy, Loves Outdoor, Freegan, Green Fiend, Recycle Disciple, Insider, Neat, Dog & Cat Lover, Child of The Ocean, etc.
LIFETIME-ASPIRATIONS
We need something long-lasting and with consequences compared to the current Aspirations - I never play them cuz they are boring) Let's face it - in the end, it's just a to-do list with no real relevance.
Goals to achieve that last longer like a whole Sims-Life to accomplish! During each age stage -new goals. Dreams they want to make true at certain age stages (it should be a chore, not a task/checklist) would be by far more intriguing and tasks they can only do while being at that age!
COMMUNITY LOTS
It would be great if we would have a reception desk with NPC's e.g. for Libary (Asking a Liberian for certain books), Gym (Booking a personal trainer, paying a membership to visit that lot - LOL), Museum (booking a tour guide for the exhibition) and stuff like that would be neat.
If a sim would come up and start a conversation that would be dope? Sadly that does not happen! Unless I force them to talk to them... nope not fun!
GALLERY-LOTS
Adding the number of Beds / Bathroom
Option to fix grammar/typos (especially if I did upload my creation)
Adding a category with "Apartments" within the room section (Seriously this is a mess) - make it work! Can you imagine how difficult it is to find newly created cool apartments for San My or Evergreen Harbor?
ILLNESS
I do understand that this is a difficult topic but some basic illnesses should be provided in Basegame. Like having a fever, getting a cold. At least a few basic ones would be neat. Sim feels sick, wants to sleep and they can call a doctor/ visit (rabbit hole) doctor, etc. For children, it would be cool if they would use a cold e.g. as an excuse to stay at home.
CAS
Men Clothes, Hairs and Shoes need to be more modern and diverse! We keep getting similar styles we already have! The fashion industry in real life provides a ton of cool styles in all areas as a base for our male sims. We need dope Chelsa Boots, skinny pants/jeans for our males, cooler t-shirts (some alternative and in solid / muted colors), and coats (trenchcoat), new acc (necklace, earrings, bracelets, rings). Cool modern different hairs (shaved with longer hair versions, variation in different lengths, male buns, etc. facial hairs. Most new hairs we get are more for elders and look very old-school. We for sure had some better hairs in the past. The fluffy high ones? Need to be toned down, they look weird e.g the one from Bowling Pack. We don't live in the 15/16th century. Men rather wear their hair either short but flat and not puffy. If I enter - male hair cuts - I get a ton of cool hairstyles via Google. So I really don't understand why don't have cooler hairstyles in 2021? They deserve the same love as the ladies. I'm a woman and I say this as a woman, men deserve LOVE, too! okay? They also want to be up to date and fancy! Trust me!
BUILD/BUY
We have solid colors for the doors. But I do not understand why we could not get also the same matching solid and wooden colors for the Windows at least? They don't match! It should make sense to fix that, right?
I have a general issue with not getting complete sets for certain rooms e.g. (Living-Room: sofa+loveseat+armchair), (Bath: toilet, sink, shower+bathtub)
Windows/Doors for all heights (beyond my horizon) Why do we have three wall-heights if we don't have the freedom to create on all levels the style of our desire?
Bathroom Clutter: (more basic modern stuff that is universal usable (a ladder with towels, tray with cosmetics, classic soap, shampoo, body lotion, shower gel, toothpaste, hairbrush, shaving cream + brush)
Kitchen Clutter: Kitchen Utensils to decorate the kitchen: We don't have even enough basics, like glasses, mugs, some deco food, plates, sauces/dressings, food boxes, etc.)
Kitchen: At least an update in swatches of the BlandCo Kitchen, with at least a butcher (like the Vault Counters), concrete and solid countertop. Please, provide some basic solid muted colors like red, blue, green, yellow, but yeah add a pure white one and keep the black one. Some natural wooden swatches or a simple new Kitchen set in a similar minimalistic design but with basic colors, countertop as mentioned.
A modern double, single, and toddler bed with solid and muted swatches - yes, and don't forget the black and white ones, please.
Update of the existing Flooring Options in Basegame: Especially those that have only two or three colors! Please add more color swatches. Especially the wooden/stone ones, those are so beautiful but lack in more color options!
Walls: Simple wood slats (horizontal/vertical) need white+black swatches) Kids Room Wallpapers some modern simple may Scandinavian inspired wallpapers for the kids, please? Most we have are ugly as heck, seriously.
Well it would be dope to have some "Female/Male Retail Clothing Racks" by clicking on it you can either go into CAS or you change your outfit
Seamless Glas Windows for all heights (for panorama-like windows with a left/middle/right) part / Industrial Windows + Doors for all heights
Basegame simple arches for all wall heights - that has always bothered me since March 2015 when I bought that game.
Seamless Glass Railing / and Fence + Fence Door.
A diving board for the pool - still don't understand why we don't have that one
GENERAL BASEGAME ISSUE
I have a huge issue with tons of items in the basegame be it CAS or BUILD/BUY that have very few swatches and then lack in having black/white and wooden light/dark brown swatches (Build/Buy). This is the main reason why I don't use them - it's that simple and I bet I'm not alone! Like black/white, and neutral plain colors (no pattern) should be standard? Shouldn't that be self-explanatory to have it? Yeah, the lack of basic, neutral colors and pattern-free solid colors is in basegame a massive issue! Add some basic muted colors in general for all items. Blue/Red/Yellow/Green/Brown/Grey! A ton of items would look so good if we would have this option. Also, a lot of items do not match with the existing swatches but belong by style together and this is so annoying how inconsequent that is.
The issue with lacking white/black matching swatches is a general issue for all items. Be it CAS or in BUILD/BUY (considering matching dark/light brown wooden swatches). Those colors are the most used ones in real life, worldwide! I don't get why we don't have that for all items! This is BASIC and essential! Swatch Color Sliders would be dope - but I think we won't get that or something similar to that - like a color wheel. This would be ideal.
DECO - CATEGORY
Okay, this is a pure mess! In TS2 we used to have an option to add our own categories and filters to sort the content to our liking. I wish we would have that feature in TS4. Simply because it's exhausting to find what you want via categories/packs. A bunch of items are not even in categories where they should be, some categories are even missing. This would need an overhaul and restructure. Or give us a tool to sort the stuff to our liking
. I would love to have a category "World Objects" rather than keep using the cheat! But that's just me.
CONSEQUENCES
TS4 is a happy place in 95% of the case. There is no drama, no consequence for certain actions. Nothing unexpected really happens besides being on fire at times, yeah you can drown at times or burn in the sun as a vampire. Well... yeah it's nice and all but boring? We want drama, we live for drama! Bulgars would be a cool addon. Adding unexpected random death situations would add some quirkiness and action to the game. Well even if it would be for fun, why not kidnapping someone for a while? Yeah, as I mentioned earlier depth is, in general lacking. Especially regarding relationships in general with matching consequences.
BABIES
I don't play them, they are not Sims and horrifying to look at if you zoom in with your strong PC graphics. Boring, flat! I age them instantly up! This would need an overhaul with way more interactions, clothing, and furniture options. That's all I'm gonna say regarding this case.
CONCLUSION
I own all packs, know them in and out and you can trust me I put a lot of thought into the Sims! Thanks a lot for the time to read this long essay! As you can tell, I am very passionate and wish it would be better because it can be improved and give us the joy we desire to have! We deserve more value for our money!
Sul Sul! Hope to see more improvements in the future before we move to the next title.
Post edited by suepixels on
Passionate Sim-Architect & Storyteller on Tumblr. If u can imagine u can make it happen Industrial, Steampunk & Modern Architecture. Yup Simmies, too!
:) Sul Sul. Thank you for giving us a forum to specifically address depth & challenge. I've seen some great things that people have posted here that I would love to see in the game.
Below is a list of items that others posted that I strongly second!
1. More ways to spend money. It’s boring to have so much money that you don’t have to worry about anything! Maybe Sims can buy a second lot, vacation home or donate so much money that they have a wing of the hospital named after them. 2. Story progression for townies & NPC’s. I want them to get married/divorced, have/advance in careers, start/end relationships & start new generations. Why can’t my 5th generation Sim marry Bella Goth’s great great grandchild?! 3. More consequences. I want more chances to say, “Holy Cow Plant! What just happened!” 4. Please tune the emotions. Fine should be the standard emotion not happy. 5. Tie the emotions & Whims in with traits. 6. Please revamp & update the Whims.
Here is a list of recent game improvements that were exciting & should be expanded:
1. Sentiments! Please make some of them last longer. If my Sim makes a bad first impression it should stick! If my Sim has a festering grudge make it stronger & harder to overcome. 2. Trait improvements! I like the way certain traits were improved to give them more weight. Please go back and fix the rest of them. Some are downright meaningless in their current form. 3.Likes & Dislikes – Great! Please add more categories like food, entertainment etc. Ex: If my sim dislikes onions they would refuse to eat anything with them in it. Please also refine the likes/dislikes we currently have. If my sim dislikes Folk music they should change it autonomously or leave the room.
Hi Sims team!! I just have a couple of things i've been having issues with lately! First - the camera options! when i go to take photos of my sims or with other sims i wish we could change the angle more, or even decide which way our sim is facing. Second - in build mode i miss the color wheel for the objects!! it's so hard to decorate a lot how you like when the color swatches for the items are limited.
This is what I meant to say Toddlers can have Imaginary Friends and they're the only ones who can see them / draw them it would be cool if once the toddler gets a imaginary friend we can build them or make there imaginary friends?? I don't know if you understand me but I would like for teens and the kids not to go to school on summer but if they had low grades then they should have summer school it's a chance to teach the children a lesson its up to the players to choose if there child learn from their mistakes if they did then that child would always try there best in everything but if the players choosee the other option there's a chance of getting a rebel child for our older sims I will like to see challenges that only older's can attend or complete as will as childrens and teens. Oh and I have a great idea I've never seen this in the sims but maybe a Get to Work Therapist job it would be fun to see how players help sims with their problem I know there are lots of sims who needs a therapist even players can make their sim go to therapy it can help with trouble childrens and it can help parents/new parents become better or a chance to become a super parent. Thank you for reading my thoughts 😃😄
One area I wish the game had more depth and challenge was relationships between other sims. At its current state, it is so easy to go from stranger to spouse in no time and personally it's not engaging. One way that could add more depth and challenge would be to have traits and likes/dislikes partially determine the speed of a relationship (sims that have more in common might become friends quicker, but sims who don't have a lot in common might take longer to build that relationship) or another similar system that will make the difficulty of becoming friends or lovers vary depending on the sim. Perhaps also turn ons and turn offs.
Another thing that may add more depth is fears for your sim. For example, in real life, I am afraid of bees because of a bad experience with them as a kid. At any sight of a bee I will move as far away as I can and I will refuse to go near a bee. If there is a bee near the front door of the house, I will walk around and go to the back door just to avoid it. A sim afraid of bees probably would get afraid and run away if too close to the seasons bee box, and the option to get honey may be grayed out maybe unless the sim has talked to herself in a mirror to work up the courage to try to open it and is feeling particularly confident, and the option to do it again may not come back for a long while even if she talked in the mirror again to try to work up the courage. Maybe the sim won't use objects next to the bee box, and will refuse to stand within 3 or 4 tiles of it (very specific example that would probably be too specific to put in game, but I was trying to use my own fear as an example of how you could possibly see it play out in game). It would be nice to have a system to select fears like we do with likes and dislikes with a various selection of things to be afraid of, and it would make sims scared or terrified if they came into contact with those things and change their behavior to avoid them.
In general, an area that I think needs more depth is the personality of the sims. Each sim didn't feel much different from the other aside from how they looked. Likes and Dislikes were an amazing start to fixing this and I hope more things like that get added to the game to flesh out our sims better (as well as expanding the Likes/Dislikes system and adding more options, like more activity options and maybe adding a new category of likes/dislikes like food or clothing). Things like turn ons/turn offs, wants/fears, strengths/weaknesses could improve the personalities of the sims and make them more interesting to play and feel like you are playing different sims.
Higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game?
So let describe what exactly it means to me:
What would you expect from it?
A more fun game. Currently, it's pretty but boring to play. CAS and Build mode are fine, but Live mode need a lot of improvement in is core gameplay mechanics and also you need to put more energy on bugs resolvation. I don't want you launch your next game and Sims 4 still be plagued with game breaking bugs.
How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?
Spend more time to play and not be bore by it.
What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?
Whims:
Already a feature, but a broken and not updated one. It need to be more related to traits and current aspiration: more personalize to each sims. Look at Sims 2 want and fears and whims overhaul mod to know how to improve this part of your game.
Aspirations:
Currently, too easy, repetitive and boring: compare it to fetch quests in a RPG. They are more tutorial in their soul than a goal you want to achieve. It's not thrilling to try to achieve it like it was in other sims games iteration. A big goal is better, because you can try to achieve it by multiple ways.
Also, Aspirations need to cover all careers (achieve lv.10) and including DLCs one (owning vet clinic, shops, restaurants), other aspirations can be like Lifetime want in sims 2 : Reach Golden Anniversary, Having X children, Marry Off X Children, Have X Grandchildren, Graduate X Children from University, Having and raise X pets, Earn X§ (amount of money), Owning X Business, Max out X skills, Have X Simultaneous Best Friends, Have X Simultaneous Pet Best Friends, Have X Simultaneous Lovers, Have X first dates, Have X Golden dates, Woohoo with X differents Sims. You can read this: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Lifetime_want
Challenges:
The game need more unpredictability. You can add burglars and raccoons (who eat in your trash can) as lot challenges.
Chemistry/attraction system:
Like a said, the game need more unpredictability: mutual relationship bar doesn't do that, it need one-sided/uneven relationships. Not everyone like everything and think the same all the time. Also, in Sims 4 you can meet and marry in the same day! It's to easy. Relationships are too easy.
Likes and dislikes:
It can be and need to be expended.
Music need to cover all the radio stations and Sims can autonomously turn on the radio ans listen to their favorite music style.
Activity need to cover all skills in the game and children need more skills.
Favorite food can be another category to add.
Plantsims:
Adding gardening special powers.
Be a permanent lifestate with a cure object like other occults.
Growing Plantsims babies (Sims 2 and 3).
Choosing more hair: why not having the possibility to choose every hairs in CAS (in the green swatche) and adding leafy hairs and clothes.
CAS:
Be able to make every occult lifestates in CAS (like Plantsims) and be able to chose it whenever you want. Not just when you start making your sims in CAS and need to restart everyting when you forgot to selection which lifestate you want.
B&B:
Spirals stairs: more architectural build to create. More pool items like in previous games.
Intercompatiblity between features:
Off-the-grid and Bust the dust: not adding broom to sweep the dust is a huge oversight for a base game challenge. Also having the jungle adventure items in the pool of gifted items is what to easy and boring to play.
Having stray pets in other worlds.
Having only the residents of the same world as walkby in the neighborhood.
More icons and activities for clubs related to base game and other DLCs.
Gameplay:
More romantic interactions (slow dance, cuddles) and more games for children (and adults why not!) to play, like red-hands, tag, etc. Like in Sims 2.
Premades Overhaul update:
Improve hot and cold weather outfits, makeup, relationships and sentiments, likes and dislikes.
I hope what I wrote will be useful and impactful.
Post edited by Skyrryx on
Thank you @83bienchen for modding the game. Whims Overhaul is essential for my gameplay.
I love the sims, been there from the beginning, while I have a vivid imagination and have been with the same rotational family for two years, I feel more challenge and consequence is required.
Aliens and Mermaids - I have not played with the latter, but I feel they have received very little love. The skills are just there ready for you to use, it does not make them very interesting to play. I love my Aliens and do use them often, but I have no real incentive to use their powers as they don't really add to the game as there is no progression or consequence so I rarely use them. It also bugs that even when people are fearful of aliens you can still just push past that and befriend them. In sims 3, I enjoyed aliens too, they had to mediate to restore brain function or summon and consume space (yum!). I have seen some references to spellcasters, I actually enjoy this, but do miss the alignment of light, dark and neutral, this could change how the spells performed, so a chillio could cause a sim to freeze to death if darkly aligned. The alignments could link to how quick or slow a caster progresses through magic i.e. mischief and dark alignment. Again it is another that needs a consequence and upping the difficulty. Not everyone should be able to become a spell caster because they want to, those the sage's deem unworthy should have to jump through more hoops (not literally, although that could be funny) but like an even or mini-challenge (we have the errands system now in Cottage living so it could work like that). Also while there is no weakness, the curses should be easier attached and harder to remove, my spellcaster achieved all spells and potions and never once got cursed. And why can't we become sages?
Relationships - love me some drama, but I don't want to have to build it always in my mind. The sims is open, you can fall in love with anyone, it makes things like the 100 baby challenge so easy. I miss attraction - I now use a mod for this and it works well, as someone finds you very attractive, but you see them a basic looking. Having this makes it easier or harder to build a relationship with a prospective partner. The Sims 2 did this with lightning strikes and your sim might give someone 3strikes, but they may only give you one. One incident that should have had huge repercussions was in my story a mother caught her boyfriend doing woohoo with her young adult daughter, so she went to make grilled cheese!! Seriously! While sentiments do change some of that reaction, the cooldown is too fast - particularly when playing on rotation as I do, and the relationship damage was not massive. Alongside this there are too many things pulling on the emotional system, it's clogged up so even if she is angry, the playful decor and a few jokes means she is playful and anger at the recent event gets pushed down the list of emotion buffs so I can easily (if I wanted) carry on, with the three living together without any issue or drama. The start of a challenge is there and addressing the emotional system. Please don't let my sims cheat or argue without consequence.
Going to work - I love getting asked how my sims should react in situations - but do you need to tell me the outcome? Does it always have to be the same. With the school questions varied, why is it the works ones aren't, chose this gain fame and lose a job or chose this and continue unchanged... where is the challenge? I know what's going to happen, vary it, please and don't tell me. same in jungle adventure
Meaningful development - I want to create interesting sims, then why can't I define their personality separate from their food/diet preferences? While this could be seen as a challenge in itself, it's not great. I am lactose intolerant, but I do not feel it defines my personality. I do like the improvements to the ideal animations due to personality traits and the likes/dislikes have also been positive. I like the three traits system, but that's because I found 5 in the sim 3 meant I had too much choice. I just want to choose a diet separate, please. Could some other traits be developed like in the parenting system? Skills are developed similarly across the board, but what if sims were more musical, scientific, or physically active, based on traits and likes/dislikes, even parents. It makes it harder to develop some skills, easier for others. Aspirations are alright, I like the mini-goal setting, so more would be nice, or How about something longer term, I play on long life (as I said I am rotational), something that makes my sims worry if they are not developing, or happy/positive if things are going their way. It should certainly take a lifetime to complete and not a sim week. It is nice when a sim fails to achieve, we all do in life - it's how we learn and grow - perhaps the aspiration meter from sims 2 - goes up with efforts toward the long term life goal and goes down when the sims are failing.
Depth
Family and the emotion buff - why do my sims forget they know their in-laws? Before I can host Winterfest I have to waste time travelling to my various households to reintroduce myself to them, yet their neighbour they spoke to once they still know. Very annoying. Be nice if there can be other relationship types in cas. An in-game, could my cousin's daughter be counted as a distant relative? I don't want to be able to flirt with such a close relative. When my sim died, I visited their brother and nephew, the brother had no grief buff, but the nephew did, despite the brother having a higher relationship. There are life things missing, teens going through puberty - this is sort of there via emotional buffs but needs work, they get buried in everything else vying to be at the top of the emotional buff. Mid-life crisis - I miss the chaos.
I am sure there is more, but I know you have a lot to read. Thank you for considering this large handful of thoughts.
Hola! Realmente adoro el juego y lo sigo desde sus inicios. Uno de los elementos principales que estuvo presente en los Sims 3 fue el mundo abierto. El actual Sims 4 requiere pantallas de carga para desplazarse a un solar que está justo al lado y en mi opinión limita la experiencia de juego. Tal vez se podría implementar que en la zona de la ciudad donde se encuentra sea libre de desplazarse y acceder a lugares diferentes, mientras que para desplazarse a otro barrio de la misma ciudad o a otra ciudad pues aparezca dicha pantalla de carga. Muchas gracias por leer.
I would love if being rich actually had its perks. Being rich makes the game way too easy and there is no differentian in lifestyles. I would love to build generational wealth and have my sims become millionaires and it actually be fun. I want to be able to buy fancy things and invest in stocks and bonds and build banks. I want to own high end bars and resturaunts. I would love if my sim kids could go to private schools. I want something to motivate me. I would love more accomodation for a wealthy life style. Being able to donate to schools and hosptials to make medicine cheaper for example and provide better education for kids.
Can you give city living more character? Amenities in the apartments. A rabbithole pool that increases fitness and a daycare that you can pay for. There is nothing special about city living in my opinion. Its boring and bland. My sims never live there because its very run down and limits my gameplay. I would love if there were public bikes for example and a boost to certain skills when you live in the city like art and fitness. I want to be able to be proud that my sims come from the city, not rush to move into a house after a day or two. I would love to live in the city for multiple generations and not get tired of it. I want more of an upper east side option in some areas.
Also I want my kids to go on field trips. They might want to go to a space centre and learn about sixam and the galaxy. Or go skiing with their teacher and classmates. (As an event this would be very enjoyable).
Also please add more descriptions to items and create an eco system within the game. For example with the frogs. You could say that they are native to worlds like Selvaldorada (south america). Also add an archeolgy career with detailed descriptions on the fossils that actully teach you things. I want my sim kids to dream of becoming archeologists and moving to selvaldorada.
Activity centers in the worlds. I know this one can be built on our own, but I am very disappointed with the vacation worlds in the game. They should have had some family friendly options where kids could view bugs in outdoor retreat or go to museums to view rare articfacts in jungle adventure. My sims have died on jungle hikes on more than one occasion. Can I view nature and art without risking my life?
Clinic lot types where you can buy medicine from worlds like Mt Komorebi, Selvadorada and the regular medicine and the salves. If my sim gets hurt I want to be able to go to a clinic and not wander around the worlds trying to find medicine.
Laundromats that you pay to wash your clothes at, just to get out of the house. You could take your toddler there and it could be a cute bonding activity.
The ability to become a world famous athlete. I might want to make my sim a worldfamous ice-skater and skate in tournaments and win money. Same with soccer and basketball. Being able to win tens of thousands of simoleans if you put in the work would be so cool.
More afterschool activities for kids. Dance class, soccer practice, basketball practice, art classes, singing classes where you actually have to practice these skills to level up would be cool. I want to be able to buy my kids a football and have them practice so that they could one day maybe be a famous athlete.
The ability to define a sim by where they come from. Windenburgish, Selvadorian, Simlish. (There is a mod for this which is amazingly done).
Please tie maids and butlers to vacation lots. One thing that I despise bout the vacation feature in the game is the fact that it doesn't actually feel like you're on vacation. I don't want to have to cook and clean for myself and care for kids while away on holiday. What is the point? Could you please somehow add staff to the vaction lots to make them more enjoyable?
Give the option to get a mortgage. Having no loan system ties me to one type of gameplay lifestyle. I should be able to buy a bigger home without having to save for one. That is real life after all. Many people have mortgages. (Again there are several mods for this, but it should be in the game).
More valuable discoveries and gemstones. Kids should be able to collect those sim collectable things and win an arcade or something. (What is the point of them exactly?) I would also prefer if you made stuff harder to find and more valuable. Also can we discuss the gemstone situation really quickly? A kids toy should not be more expensive than a ruby.
Useable urns and backpacks. I might want to put all my family urns into one big pretty urn. Picture day at school. (you did it for discover university). I want to remember my sim kids school days. More hours for daycare. I might want a sim to be a stay at home parent but I might not want to have my toddlers around all the time.
Can you give Newcrest more character? can you add a block of apartments or something? I know you created it to give players more empty lots but its such an annoying world at this point. (Is it a metropolis, is it not?)
Make trains, trams and boats useable. (Just add a travel toggle to them). I want to be able to get a train from San Myshuno to Mt. Komorebi. Or a boat/tram from Magnolia Promenade to Willow Creek.
Scout camps. I want my kids to go to a rabbit hole summer camp and come back with fireflies or something.
A post office where my sim can leave stuff for other sims.
Child support. (Again there is a mod for this and it makes a difference). If my sim has an npc parent, they should pay child support.
Also can you make sixam habitable? I feel as though aliens were done dirty. It would be so cool if you decided to live a whole life on another planet. Same with the realm of magic HQ. Being able to live in that world would be awesome. Also can we have a spellcaster rabbithole school for child and teen spellcasters? That would be so fun. I feel like the occults in the game need more territory. If you could live in the magical realm and there were primary and secondary schools for the spellcaster kids, I would literally play realm of magic so much more. Also I would love to be able to live in sixam, eat strange space fruit and dream of one day going to earth. (That would be lit).
Also can you restrict the medical career? I know it sounds weird, but the average person can't just stroll into a hospital and become a nurse you actually have to go to school for that. Same with the astronaut career. Its just odd.
More careers in general. (Like banker, geologist, flight attendent etc.)
Option to vote for sims to become National Leaders if they are in the activist career. The perks could be discounted meals, vacations and a presidential picture. The way we vote for a more juiced community and sharing is caring (which are very odd by the way) I want to vote for a national leader. I want to be able to say, my kid is gonna be president one day.
Vaults with keys (its annoying that only one sim can access a vault).
The ability to invest. (Again this is a mod that exists. Some of my sims literally live off their dividends in gameplay).
Of course cars. yachts. Bigger boats in general. I want to go sailing in Brindleton Bay for a weekend.
Usuable backpacks, medicine cabinets.
Can sims please go to jail for fighting or stealing while in the criminal career? It would be hilarious.
Passports would be a really cool feature. Not being able to travel without one.
Can you please allow children to gain skills while doing their homework? I love the concept of discover university and its one of my favourite packs, but not everyone goes to college and I would still like my teens to have some kind of skillset when they graduate highschool.
Also can you improve the dorms to make life more comfortable? Dorm living is a pain. I don't like having to leave my lots in general anyway, but especially not when I'm trying to get a degree. I don't know why you didn't equip the dorms better. Can we at least have a cookerless kitchen and pool?
Inheritance. Its annoying when my sim has more than one child and I have to leave one of the sim children behind because I don't want all of my hard work to go to waste when the parents die. If the money automatically went to each child that would be great.
Lastly can there be an option to turn off buy mode so we have to go furniture shopping?
Also please let us build our own apartments. I want to be a landlord. And can we have a fully functioning financial system too? I want to be able to take out a business loan and pay taxes.
The biggest issue is that the Sims themselves don't feel like they have a lot of character. They tend to feel very same. Whatever you do with them, you can pick up right after that and be back to happy happy joy without any sense of struggle, without a big reaction.
1) The emotion system is one of the biggest problems. I do like Emotions, but the way it's done it just doesn't work right. My Husband just died? Had a great holiday and the house is pretty so I don't care. Loads of trivial emotions overshadow the things that should matter. Happyness isn't something to work for, it's always the default. Important stuff like "someone died", "my spouse cheated/divorced", and so on, should be visible, not disappear in some back row. Bad moods tend to be weak and disappear very fast. They should hold on for longer. There are several tiers to emotions, but I see them rarely being utilized - where is the difference between sad and very sad? It's just "how many sad points do I have" without real gameplay behind it. A big issue with the emotions is that negative emotions tend to block options - sad sims won't flirt and so on. They are presented as pure obstacles, and the sims themselves will run to the next opportunity to get rid of them. While positive emotions are mostly a little skill buff. Emotions should be more than that. Why not use less punishing and rewarding emotion tiers and keep them for longer? Why shouldn't a sim be a bit sad for more than a day, if it wasn't a punishment that took choice away? That would occasionally shed a tear and look miserable, but also able to kiss a spouse and be nice to others? Leaving the "I'm not in mood for anything" for the higher tiers. Start up high and let the emotion get lesser over time (like shown in the very first trailers).
2) Overall mood is only tied to the emotions. While a lot could be done if the emotions where more believable and stable, there is no goal to play towards. It doesn't really matter if a sim has suffered for a while, the moment the mood gets good it's all forgotten. That contributes a lot to the "whimsical" feel of the game where nothing feels like there is any consequence. Why isn't there some long-term happyness you could contribute to? Something to reward you if you keep your sim happy every day instead of making them suffer? Or traits you could develop? I could see a sim that's been sad a lot develop a "gloomy" bonus trait, like it works with lifestyles.
3) Traits are a big issue. They should shape a sims character, but they don't. What differs a gloomy sim from a cheerful one? One occasional bonus moodlet - that will completely disappear. A reasonably well-treated sim will already be happy most of the time and none of the moodlets would matter. There are very few traits which actually influence how a sim acts instead of giving mostly tiny moodlets. There is so little difference to see. Most traits are only there to provide a bonus or punishment to certain things - a cat lover will like to interact with a cat, but never be sad without one. If you went on about your day without caring about character traits, you would notice not a lot of them.
4) The aspiration system should provide a sense of accomplishment, something to work towards. It doesn't. While some of the bonus traits are nice, most are either hardly noticable or not really related to the aspiration (why does a good botanist get fire proof?). Aspirations are made to be easily switched, to be played one after another. While it's nice to get these bonus traits, they don't really get used - sims tend to get another aspiration soon, carry on with their lives, follow another path and hardly use the old bonus again. Like a super parent can provide powerful boosts to children - but to get the trait their first kid must already be a successful adult. While nice this bonus will likely never be used. The ones I do like most are the children bonus traits. While I think gaining skills is already easy in the game and doesn't need a boost, it is something that will be used and helps shape up personality. Would be cool if teenagers had something similar, in addition to the adult aspirations. Like being a nerd in school could earn you some permanent extra opportunities in tech and so on.
If the reward isn't worth it they could at least be fun to play with. However most aspirations don't exactly provide replayability. A whole lot of them are what is mostly called "tutorial aspirations", being more of a checklist of what can be done with a pack or feature. While they might give some lead the first time you play with a feature, they feel more like a chore after that. Kids just can't be that physically gifted if they didn't have the chance to play at the park, I guess. Aspirations as a whole feel very limited, mostly tied to single skills (never jobs). They could need some more freeform. I can collect a variety of stuff, but if my sim strives to be a collector, he has to limit himself to rocks and frogs to feel good about it.
The aspiration and whim reward shop isn't very rewarding either. Most of it is glorified cheats, which can be nice, but it's more of a "seen once, bored" kind of reward.
5) Whims aren't wishes. Now they don't have to be, but the lack of wishes does leave a hole. If you think about it, what are wishes good for? The obvious answer is that they provide some gameplay prompt, to avoid boredom. However they also help shape personality. What is the personality of a sim if not what the player can see and interpret of it? A family sim could wish to spend time with his children - but he could also wish to get them successful or to buy them loads of toys. A romantic sim could wish to sleep around - or to flirt with the same person all the time. While wishes tend to be random, people like to take them as personality hints, they do exactly what personality traits without loads of autonomy behind them cannot. Whims cannot fill that spot like they are.
Their first problem is that there are way too few whims, and most of them aren't contributing to what could be interpreted as character. Sims get whims to buy about everything, and then they want to get married and have children and then maybe some trivial stuff like throwing waterballoons. They are plain boring. They rarely relate to character traits. There are no whims that would really make an impact in your everyday life. If I think of wishes, I think of stuff like "would want to punch that guy who insulted me earlier", "quit that annoying job", "do this interesting stuff". Whishes related to who your sim was, what he was doing, how he was acting. They came up according to the place you went, the things you did, the things that happened to your sim and sometimes a bit of randomness. And they were rewarded, with happyness. The things a sim wanted could really bring change into their life, and it was up to the player to go along with it or not.
I would love something like wishes, and it doesn't need to imitate older systems. Whims can stay whims, but they should at least get some love. The options rolled should align with character and experiences made, have a lot more options than just "buy stuff". Long term prompts could get their own system, but they should definitely be into the game.
6) The way sims act with each other just doesn't work. I do love sentiments and those parenthood family moodlets, and what they bring to the game. But it just doesn't work if the sims themselves don't really react to each other. If my family dad cheats on his wife, I expect her to be angry at him. Not to go downstairs and yell at the neighbor because that's what "angry" does and he's still busy. I know it's difficult to implement more autonomy. But I play a game, I don't read a book. I don't want to scroll through moodlets to find out what's the issue, I want my sim to really react to it. To react to the person who angered them, who made them cry, who embarrassed them, who made them happy. Not for my loyal family sim to just flirt around with everybody because that makeout session with his spouse was just so hot.
7) Much like with personality traits, I want age stage to play a role in who my sim is and how he/she reacts. Everything from teenager to elder feels the same, and even children don't really feel like children. A big part of it is the lack of wishes/unique gameplay prompts that would show up their different preferences. Especially teenagers behave like adults with a school career. They could need a combination of unique aspirations, moodlets, whims, gameplay prompts and activities to feel special. Same goes for elders. I do appreciate the approach of "everything available for everysim", however this lead to a point where pretty much everything is targeted to (young) adults. Get some more options that make sense for those age groups.
Get the children to act more like children instead of standing around in discussion circles. Let them have some more open-ended aspirations. Maybe have unique lifestage traits. Just anything.
8) I want to see consequence. I want to see sims reacting long-term to stuff like death and cheating, to react to being treated well or treated bad over a period of time. Might be a happyness meter, or a stress meter, or anything else, but I want to see a reaction to what happens to a sim, that lasts longer than your generic moodlet. That has a different place than being hidden in a long line of everyday stuff.
I would expect the sims to feel much more unique, the game to feel much more motivating and interesting. With some leads to help you out of everyday routine into an interesting drama, should you feel like it, while leaving creative freedom to us.
Well.....
ONE of the best features about Sims 4 is the Active careers that come with Get Famous and Get To Work game packs as well Dine Out, Home decorator career is where players can interactively go to work with their sims and not a rabbit hole or create a business for them that is functional. Additional careers in Real Estate would also make sense as there is already home decorator career along with property and/or apartments already a big part of the game.
So for more game depth, how about making all careers active and virtual with more time to complete tasks as well as changeable lots as some like in GF are not.
For even more game depth, making tasks more interesting would also be ideal. And don't cringe, but adding realistic transportation like limos for stars in Get Famous, cars, or patrol cars for police career would also add more realism. Plus, we all know celebrities don't really show up to red carpet award shows or vip lounges on bikes in their best outfits, lol.
Altogether, just as in real life, what sims do for their career is important part of their life as well so a big improvement in this would be appreciated and will add more challenge to the game for sure.
Lastly, adding more traits, making townies dress and look more real with clothes picked for them or just decent clothes will help make game less distracting as also being able to control visitors to sims lots, and making all sims more autonomous like in the marketing trailers with less "needs" to be filled every few minutes of gameplay would help players concentrate on having their sims be more active in their storylines or challenges.
Always be your unapologetically and authentic self
In one of my last posts i mentioned that i would like for it to be easier for our sims to spend a lot of money and i just thought of a few things that could help it. I think that owning multiple homes could be an amazing way to spend money and also to add more depth to the game, because you could put half of the family in one house and the other half in another or you could just use it to go spend the summer there, etc. My other idea is to have investements, this way the sims could choose too invest x amount of money and they could either lose a lot of money, make a bit of money or earn a lot of money, the sims could be given 3 options of how much they want to invest and there would be a different sucess rate for each option. Also would be good if we could be partners in some companies, like in the sims 3, and we could get x mount of money per week from that place. These things would make it easier to earn money and to spend it, so we could have sims go bankrupt and this would be very challenging.
I also would love to see newspapers in the game, i think they would add a lot a depth and it would also contribute to the off the grid lot challenge, because this way the sims wouldn't need to use the phone, so they wouldn't need electricity at all.
Also i think that wall phones could add depth to the game because they would fit well for decade challenges and people could use it in their country homes, also we could get more prank calls or opportunities calls on this phone.
Another thing that would add depth is for us to be able to choose a different colour for the hats/ ribbons that come attached to certains hairstyles.
Thank you so much! And sorry for another post, but i keep remembering more things 😅
Sorry, I thought my comment was deleted after quoting it to develop a traits idea and I've kind of repeated it being more specific. I can't delete or edit it, so please don't consider it flooding.
More ideas:
-Non controlled Sims being at job in their working hours like it was before an update over a year ago. -Chance of buying a second house. -Customize an NPC job: Making a Sim being in a room in your household doing nothing in selected hours and salary and typing a job to them like in the Ministry of labor. I would like to simulate an assistant of my self-employed Sims, a lawyer, a therapist, a bodyguard, a tax consultant a building janitor, etc. -More relationships in CAS: cousin, sister-in-law, father-in-law, stepfather, half brother, aunt, etc.
Short and Sweet: I like to play for more for the building and less of the character development. I miss Sims 3, because the world felt more open and I could basically create my own town. The Sims 4 is completely missing that aspect.
Hi Firstly there have been so many other great ideas already stated which I'd agree with so I am going to add a few that I've not seen.
1. Introduce interests and let people work towards them like in sims 2. For example, I am interested in food. I can build interest in different ways by researching recipes, talking about recipes, trying new recipes. Interests can be from 1 to 6 and they can be linked to whims e.g I want to learn a new recipe, likes and dislikes e.g I like cooking, and your ability to join clubs. It also unlocks new Interactions and may lead to quicker skill gains. This system would makes sims lives more than just about work. Moreover there could be chance cards like, so and so has been researching food, they no longer want to eat meat should they become a vegetarian etc. There could also be rewards like monthly food packages, recipe books etc for a small fee,
2. A rumour system, where someone can start a rumour about you and you can choose to deal with it by talking it out, fighting, social media, suing etc. But also someone may see your spouse cheating and there is a chance that it gets back to you
3. Improved career progression. Make some careers require a degree but equally allow people who don't have degrees to work harder to get promotion, e.g requirement could be having a very good relationship with your boss
4. More ways to spend money e.g you either have to go to a shop to buy clothes or changing clothes in cas (or hair) requires a small fee. Some clubs could reply a monthly membership fee, you can have subscription services e.g clothes, interests, or pay to go museums, exclusive bars etc.
5. More rabbithole activity e.g you can invite a friend to a concert that will build relationship points, you may return from activity liking new music or have a bad experience and therefore no longer like music. Random events can be added to calendar and you don't need to go with them, events can be 18+, for families, for couples, for those with particularly interests or for all. They can be randomised so you never know what is going on each week. You could also get teens trying to sneak to a concert, get caught (or not) and brought home to police. The idea being that experiencing new things will influences whims (or wants and fears), likes and dislike, lifestyle e.g vegetarian, dairy free, wants to be a minimalist (new lifestyle) etc.
6. Interactions should be unlocked depending on relationship or skill level. The more you build the more deeper Interactions you get. Higher friendship means you get to know sims faster and give a greater chance of influencing them.
7. Better pack integration. This will make up it feel like one world rather than multiple single worlds
I hope this doesn't come off like a wish list but if so maybe these suggestions could be kept in mind for TS5... Also thank you for taking the time to look at and listen to our suggestions.
#1 : cars Please include cars in the game or some form of public sim transportation like... Tramway track to get around within a neighborhood or individual worlds. Sims could use it to go to work, meet up with friends for actives or even ride it together as a group. #2 : shopping A local grocery store or weekend farmers market where you can get fresh ingredients. This could be used so many ways. Think a after school job for teens, a way for sims to shop for fresh veggies or pick up a birthday present or Christmas gift for someone. Not to mention running into their friends or stumbling into their ex while out and about.. ackward! #3 : simple weather some simple seasons/weather like Rain in the spring, leaves falling and winding days in the fall, a bit of snow in the winter. You don't have to add the complete seasons pack but enough to make the game feel more realistic. You could do a separate mini pack for severe weather like blizzards, tornadoes, sand storms etc. #5 : work include some sort of get to work and dine out theme within the base game. Something that allows you to follow your sim to work and complete task that help them achieve there aspirations within the base game. You could pick a few jobs for base game that would allow this.. Police, business, artist in the park teaching at a high school, waiter or cook at a restaurant /bar/cafe, cashier at a grocery store, retail store or cafe to start. Then later expand to add more interesting jobs with activities in another pack.. Model, doctor, scientist, politician, act etc. This will allow people to actively be involved with their sims jobs more as well as give give them more chances to get out with sim friends for dinner or shopping. #6 : realistic sims more complex sim characters through feelings, memories and family relationships / events. Example would be the ability to have family reunions, graduations and baby showers. The ability for sims to recognize related sims, 2nd cousins, aunts & uncles etc. #7 : A mini storyline option. At the beginning of the game the players have the choice to do free play or storyline. If they pick free play they are free to go on as usual with the game if they pick storyline there could be a short storyline in which allows your player to really be involved in the story behind the world or characters within. At the end of the storyline if they complete it they could unlock hidden items or a mini vacation world. There could also be quest throughout that fall into the storyline that are optional to take and complete. #8:world travel semi open world that would allow sims to move throught the world or neighborhood they are in without a loading screen for easier screen play. If by chance a person wanted to jump from say Sulani to Windenburg or Oasis Springs then their would be a loading screen but to move within sulani there wouldn't be. Everything I mentioned here is in regards to the base game. These things can be updated gradually like regular updates not all at once. Many other games are continually doing major updates like these gradually and it makes the players feel like having a good baasgame is just as important to the company making it as it is to the players playing it. The better the base game the more players will keep coming back for more...
While I have not - and have no intention to - read the previous comments in this thread, discussions I've seen on the forums and other places incline me to believe that many, if not all, the comments you are getting are conflating "Challenge" with "depth." And while that's certainly one valid understanding, it's not the only one.
For me, greater depth would not necessarily require greater challenge (though I am not adverse to greater challenges in the game) but rather that autonomous behavior and moodlets make sense within the sim's personality. Far too often I've seen certain moodlets or behaviors that either didn't mesh with my understanding of a trait (for example, as someone who identifies as a Maker, the Maker trait should include knitting, cross-stitch, painting, woodworking, working at the robotics station, shaping clay into something, helping/working on school projects and arguably even cooking and baking as things that will stave off the "idle hands" moodlet in addition to fabrication.) Or seem to be applied completely at random. (A book lover's first action when bored should be to the bookcase rather than the computer, even right at generation. Writing should be fun for creative + Book Lover, etc.)
Without completely reworking the existing trait system, increasing the number of available trait slots and preferences and tweaking how those traits and preferences influence autonomy (as opposed to mood) is probably the simplest way to help us give our sims' more ways to influence sims' autonomy so that they "stay in character". Traits should also be clearer about what they do and don't influence, and there should be more traits available to allow for more subtle variations of personality. For example "introvert" vs. "Loner" (as the two are not the same thing. Introverts wouldn't be tense around people they don't know, but they would, say, increase their social need more slowly with someone who wasn't already a friend, and need "Me time" after being at a social event, community lot, or festival.)
So, again, for me depth means more ways to define my sim's personality in ways that the game will recognize so that they act in character autonomously and I don't have to babysit their every action. Unplayed sims would especially benefit from this, as they would likewise behave appropriately when seen "in the wild."
thank you for giving the community the opportunity to share their thoughts. I am totally enthusiastic about the many entries and ideas. Personally, I'm an absolute family player, so my idea of depth is very much focused on this area. I know a lot of my suggestions go into great detail.
[b]1.) Wedding[/b] - more possibilities / animations for marriage proposals (such as in TS2 at the table) - Bachelor parties would make it even more realistic - the guests often do not all notice that the ceremony is taking place. They could also react to it afterwards (applause, toasting, etc.) - Tradition: throwing the bridal bouquet - more bridal wear (dresses, veils, hair accessories etc.) - more objects - honeymoon - couple dance - (if planned as an event) emotions before the wedding (excitement, joy, tension, etc.) - celebrate wedding anniversary
[b]2.) Pregnancy[/b] - Examinations (which gender, how many babies) in the hospital - desire for gender or number of children - gender parties - pregnant sims should continue to age and not pause old age - more options to share about pregnancy with other sims
[b]3.) Babies[/b] (my biggest concern) Unfortunately, babies are objects. I also enjoy playing in large families that live in large houses. Then I have to decide whether the baby sleeps alone in the living room all night or lies in the parents' bedroom all the time during the day. Most of the time, interactions only happen when the baby is crying. I think that's a shame. It would be nice if - there would be more clothes for babies - they were not tied to their cradle - changing tables - more cribs - Calm and breastfeed babies on the rocking chair - more interactions (bathing, carrying around etc.) - Baby carriers in which the babies can also sleep - features for babies - take babies with you on vacation - lullabies - [b]HERE, MY BIGGEST WISH: BABY CARRIAGE TO WALK[/b] -> The following would be important to me: a difference between strollers for children and toddlers - also strollers for twins, triplets - sibling strollers (baby and toddler) - children should be able to push the strollers by now - the interaction of the family walk so that EVERYONE can go along (including dogs)
[b]4. Toddlers[/b] - more interaction between toddlers - stroller (mentioned already) - At the beginning you should be able to crawl and not walk directly - calm down on the rocking chair - the possibility of sleeping in bed with the parents - (even if I hate them in real life) family beds! - lullabies
[b]5. children[/b] - night parties (sleepover) - sleep together with the parents - Over the weekend the possibility to send the children to grandma and grandpa - school bus or friends who pick up the children for school - more extracurricular activities - bicycles - Children should have more opportunities to interact with the babies (for example, that they can hold the babies while sitting) - the opportunity to walk the dog
[b]6. teenager[/b] - don't look so much like an adult - house parties - ask if you can go out (like in TS2) - (if there should ever be a car): the driver's license - blemished skin / pimples
[b]7. Family gameplay[/b] - more trips as family - Board games that can be played with 6-8 people - generally more activities that can be done together (with large families) - the possibility of calling friends and relatives who take care of toddlers and children (as in TS2) - Performances / graduations / funerals to which family members can be invited - social worker/ Youth welfare office that the children take with them when they are neglected - Kitchen machines (like the Thermomix) in which you can make your own baby food
Hello as a storyteller player, I can say that what is missing is keeping track of the actions of the sims, whether they are pnc or pc. And when I say this I am referring to sim memory. This would go a long way in getting a more solid idea of who the characters I'm playing with are.
As with many mods released in the last year it would be interesting to be able to ask other sims about their main memories. Things like if they have children, if they are married, if they want children, if they have seen a mutual acquaintance recently and pass on information related to that relationship.
In my opinion, the alchemy between sim is also very important, divisible between mental and physical. This gives the game a twist, otherwise it seems that all sims get along with everyone and this is easily boring.
It would be very nice to see relationships that develop unevenly on both sides. Unrequited loves, friendships, jealousies (emotion not present in the game at the moment by the way).
WHAT COULD BE A CHALLENGE FOR ME IN THIS GAME: being able to evolve the character as in a story. Therefore, having parameters that indicate some characteristics of my Sim that can be modified through the player's actions. The ideal would be to start from some characteristics, for example from shy to extroverted, from unpleasant to nice etc (as in parentood). The player should be able to set himself a goal (in CAS). For example, a character that we have created shy has the goal of becoming an extrovert. Therefore, having a more complete management of the character from many points of view, also and above all the psychological one.
A tip: I think it would be very interesting to see a pack focused on love. Half of the game revolves around love affairs, so I think a themed pack would be perfect. There are so many aspects to explore, and then they would be infinitely reusable feautures.
COMPATIBILITY It should not be so easy for us to romance each and every Sim (outside of Agnes ofc). Sims should have preferences and be more attracted to certain types of Sims (or not attracted), although they can still end up with someone outside these preferences. The Sims 2 and 3 both had attraction systems. A combination of the 2 would be ideal but I don't know if that'd work in Sims 4, so anything that would work would be an improvement.
WHIM SYSTEM I used this only briefly because the whims were repetitive and random. Adding whims from later packs' content and making them relevant to what the Sim is doing, likes, does for a living, etc. would greatly improve the system.
TRAITS While the recent update improved things for some traits with increasing/decreasing happiness there's still room for improvement. Some suggestions for interactions based on specific traits: Slob - make more and bigger messes, ex. piles of trash everywhere, more likely to get roaches Glutton - get fatter quicker if not being active Loner - leave room autonomously if too many Sims in it Insane - able to wear inappropriate clothing randomly Evil - bring back steal candy from toddlers Noncommittal - should be difficult to get into a relationship Family Oriented - should be difficult to get them to cheat on spouse/break up with spouse, should feel guilty if do cheat even if not caught Self-Assured - higher confidence should lead to greater success in romance and career
Hates the Outdoors should be introduced as counter to Loves the Outdoors - it would be nice in general to add at least one trait in every expansion and game pack
Lastly, 3 traits is not enough to give a Sim a good personality; it's very limiting. 5 traits in the Sims 3 was a good number with a 6th from getting a degree from university. If that's not possible maybe 4 base traits with a 5th from uni.
I'm back because it's morning now and I have more ideas. Here's a breakdown of how careers could be deeper, and more challenging in The Sims 4:
1. My sim has to apply, and pass an interview, to get a job. This could be simulated through a multiple choice chance card system where my sim disappears for an interview, the interviewer asks them questions, and I have to select the responses from multiple choices, which have the chance of failing the interview. Things that we really do get asked in real interviews - what is our background, why do we want this job, what are our goals, what are we passionate about. Alternately, and this would be super fun in my opinion, make it a scenario reminiscent of the Headmaster scenario in the Sims 2. We have to score enough points to get the job, broken down into categories like skills and qualifications, professionalism, schmoozing.
2. My sim has to apply for promotions, and could be knocked back in favour of someone else.
3. Jobs and promotions have harder skill and qualification gates. For example, I could get an entry level part time job, which adds to my "work experience" (this could be an actual point tally in the Sim's career tab or something like that). Work experience, skills and education all matter for more long term careers. If the player has University installed, some careers and promotions should be locked to Sims that have a degree, or an appropriate amount of work experience. Just any old Don Lothario should be able to become a doctor. And not just Uni degrees - schooling should matter. The grade my sim child achieves should impact what jobs they are eligible to take. Again, we as the player can work around this by working hard to gain heaps of skills and experience that could get us promoted and into better careers, but we have to work for it.
4. More chance cards with harsher results. The Sims 2 had this downpat - yes, we could always just click "ignore" on the chance cards if we wanted to. But those really made you pause and think, because you could be looking at a massive bonus, skill gains, or demotion, or instantly getting fired. Yes, please. Bring on the challenge.
And just as an extra aside - I'd really like to be able to have a small home business again, please. The selling table is good, but still. An actual home business. Please.
Thank you for taking the time to get more opinions from us. I know a lot of us can be very loud with it at times. Hopefully everyone stays kind...
With that being said. I loved the storyline of Strangerville and would also love to see each neighborhood get 1 or 2 storylines that the player can choose to play or in options to ignore if they wish to. It could be something easy like collecting bugs to find a rabbit hole. Then y'all could go all out and create a storyline for vampires (good and evil) to play out in order to unlock certain powers. Maybe an evil vampire has a certain power that a good vampire can never have and vise versa. Btw I love Sims 4 Vampires. I always play with the same vampire now (Cassandra Goth who was kidnapped by Vlad and changed against her will). Anyways, I loved playing the story in Strangerville and would love to see each neighborhood in Base game get one. Thank you thank you thank you for all your hard work! Been Simulating my mind since year 2000 Sims 1.
Comments
1. The most recent example obvious candidate - Bust the dust. The kit encourages player to do barely nothing. Instead of busting the dust, the game rewards the player for everything, either as a buff, or veeeery expensive items from dust bunnies. If every outcome is some kind of reward, what's there for a player to do if there is no real bad outcome?
2. Realm of Magic. The spells are cheats. The spells and potions are there to cheat your way though a relationship, cleaning, fixing, gardening or needs. How many stories can I tell with cheating in forms of spells? Not a lot because the outcome will always be good. And if not, casting the same spell again will make everything alright. And with how easy it is to get rid of a curse or even quite hard to get one? Even less challenge and depth. How about spells that aren't cheats but completely new interactions like changing someone into a frog (but permanently until spell is broken by a kiss or a decursify, not like a buff driven Morphiate or Strangefy). Because another thing for depth is lack of long-lasting consequences.
3. Country Living wild rabbits and birds. I like the idea of them helping in garden a lot, but why the gifts again? First dust bunnies and now animals? The "exchange ratio" he is 1:2. You have to do 1 thing (befriend them) and they'll do 2 things for you (help in the garden and bring gifts). If anything the reward ratio should be kept 1:1. You get one thing for one task or more rewards require more effort.
4. Seasons scarecrow. As if we didn't already have a gardener, now the scarecrow will do his job for free. I think the choice between "Do it yourself for free, but that requires time" and "Hire someone, but that costs money" is more interesting than the easy solution of befriending a scarecrow and not having to worry about the garden, because the task is simple and then there are no costs/sacrifices from the player's side. Not to mention there already is a reward that makes services free, so why give another option like that? Isn't that just repeating yourself?
Also I think to improve the depth the developers need to ask themselves "And what after" when discussing a potential feature. The NAPs from Eco Lifestyle were a nice idea, but they're quite useless after 4 voting rounds and it's so easy to get influence points that a Sim can end up being a dictator and singlehandedly decide the plan by the time 2nd or 3rd week comes. Features need to be more dynamic and versatile so they can be used more than once in more than just one way.
Same goes for Sulani. We can clean it, have a dive get a suntan. But then there's a question "What now?". It's another example of why meaningful, repeatable and adjustable mechanics are important.
For base game, the money from painting, writing and gardening needs to be reduced, because if players have to actively stop their Sims from becoming rich, the money system is broken. Being rich should be an achievement you work towards to, not something you try to stop from happening because the game shoves you money from everything.
Now not to be all complainy, I'd like to praise some mechanics and ideas I think were executed well and are a step into a right direction.
1. Paranormal stuff pack. It's a great example of implementing a challenge that doesn't come with big rewards per se. It still rewards, but it's hard to get the expensive stuff from ghosts. Meanwhile the player has to actively and regularly maintain a good spirituality level. It also plays on the opposite of the reward idea I've described above, so "Do it or else you'll be punished" which is also what makes it fun!
2. Country Living farm animals. They're a chore. And it's a good thing. Having to regularly feed and clean them requires engagement and sets some conditions for a player. And there should be more mechanics like that.
Remember, a good challenge isn't a checklist of one time tasks for a reward, but a mechanic that engages the player and requires effort from them. Only then it can feel like a challenge and can provide a player with a sense of accomplishment.
Thanks for providing a Feedback-Session! Always wanted to provide what I think how TS4 could provide better gameplay and more. I belong to the ones who do complain a lot about what it should have. But I also appreciate what we have! Here I am expressing how I feel about SIMS 4 telling you what I would expect it would have after paying for all packs! I am a gamer who wants to enjoy this game! Not only kids play this game! The adults are the ones who can afford actually this game, you know
ANIMATIONS & RELATIONSHIPS IN GENERAL
I truly miss some cute animations like holding hands while walking together for a little along the street. Holding the one in arms while gazing at the stars. A romantic dance between couples on music - I'm tired of watching single dancers especially if they are married and love each other. Giving may a kiss on the forehead. Romantic Animations are seriously lacking in depth.
Simply a bunch of other cute animations like
I don't want to be the one who always has to start the flirting - It always works out in most cases - quite boring! It never fails - Like dude, I don't like you! Period! Keep dreaming it won't be me. Even cheating has not really a huge effect besides having the being sad-effect. After a while, they act as if nothing happened. And you can easily smooth it out. There is no real memory here that their loved one cheated on them for example. I wish we would have more drama. Breaking - Up and Making Up or a back and forth interaction would be for sure interesting. Like kissing and then refusing to continue etc. A break-up message? I fell out of love! It's over, okay? Or listen I cheated on you, I love her/him - I'm ending our relationship. Honey, we have been married for 20 Sim-Days I'm having an affair with someone and I want a divorce! Bye! Autonomous proposal by the partner - cool! More autonomous decisions.
It would be heart-melting cute or devastating heartbreaking and wonderful to watch and experience some relatable things based on real life. We are all emotional creatures and we want to suffer with our Sims together. Yeah, and we desire to be happy for our Sims, too. If we cannot control certain reactions or decisions by other sims? That would enrich the gameplay and give some life!
SIMS RELATIONS
It always bothered me massively that I cannot set the relations between the sims in CAS except being siblings and wife/husband. I mean this is so basic and badly needed. All options would be needed! Friends should be also an option, HECK YES!
I really wish to be able to create a Household based on their relationship with each other in CAS. Sadly not possible.
CHARACTER DEPTH
Something like Zodiac Signs would be great. I find myself using the same traits over and over again - and it's boring as heck. Sorry, I'm not bashing the "Story-Creator" in CAS but at the end of the day, it does not provide what I wish the Sims would have. A depth in their character hence why I refuse to use the "Story-Creator". That's simply not that what I wish to have as I belong to those who can come up with a story myself - a nice tool for those who have difficulties creating a backstory, tho.
SPLIT TRAITS AND ADD PREFERENCES
How about real character traits? A bunch of the traits describes rather their Lifestyle / Hobby / or Preferences instead of their real character.
The current existing traits do not provide character and certain behaviors for a sim in order to call that Sim a character. Some have character but no Hobbies or no Lifestyle, others don't have character, but do live a certain Lifestyle, have a hobby, etc. So how do Hobbies and Lifestyles relate to having a sim with character? It doesn't make them complete regarding their behaviors!
Three traits don't give the Sim the depth they would need unless those traits would be used only for real character-related traits.
But Hobbies, Lifestyle, and Preferences (multiple selections need be possible to be selected as in likes/dislikes). They should have their own slots or another way to be added to the Sim. I would say this is essential to complete a Sim with a character, of course!
At the end of the day we need a restructure of the traits that describe only character-related traits. As I mentioned it should not contain their "Lifestyle, Hobby, or Preference.
With * marked traits are suggestions - the other ones already exist in-game. They need to be split into the following categories. Maybe not 100% accurate but you get me, right?
Values, Morals, and Beliefs
Self-Absorbed, Materialistic, Ambitious, Honest/Deceiver*, Compassionate*, Leader*, Cosmopolitan*, Courageous/Brave/Coward*, Unselfish/ Selfish*, Loyal/Disloyal, Lazy*/Hard-working*, Independent* Irresponsible/Responsible*, Dutiful*, Considerate*, Humble/Greedy*.
Personality Character / Social Traits
Demanding*, Thoughtful* Disagreeable*, Serious*, Dreamer*, Shy*, Bossy*, Impulsive*, Curious* Introvert/Extrovert*, Eccentric*, Emotional*, Rude* Stubborn* Optimist/Pessimist*, Creative, Goofball, Gloomy, Perfectionist Bro, Family-Oriented, Evil, Family-Oriented, Good, Hates Children Insider, Non-Commital, Outgoing, Paranoid, Proper, Self-Absorbed. Clumsy, Kleptomaniac, Snob, Squeamish, Loner, Mean, Outgoing, Good,
Physical/ Emotional Character Traits
Strong/Fragile*, Gentle*, Arrogant*, Calm*, Handsome/Pretty/Ugly*, Coward*, Brave*, Hydrophobic* Active, Genius, Romantic, Slob, Flirty, Unflirty, Jealous, Self-Assured, Insecure, Hot-Headed, Slob, Childish, Cheerful, Neat, Fighter, Mischievous, Erratic, Hates Children
Preferences would be everything that is hobby and lifestyle-related!
Hobbies
Art Lover, Fitness-Enthusiast*, Bookworm, Foodie, Geek, Maker, Musik Lover, Dance Machine, Collector*, Gardener* Fishing* Traveller, Artist*, Writer*, Cook*, Houseworker*, etc.
Lifestyle
Adventurous, Animal Enthusiast, Explorer*, Glutton, Lactose Intolerant, Vegetarian, Lazy, Loves Outdoor, Freegan, Green Fiend, Recycle Disciple, Insider, Neat, Dog & Cat Lover, Child of The Ocean, etc.
LIFETIME-ASPIRATIONS
We need something long-lasting and with consequences compared to the current Aspirations - I never play them cuz they are boring) Let's face it - in the end, it's just a to-do list with no real relevance.
Goals to achieve that last longer like a whole Sims-Life to accomplish! During each age stage -new goals. Dreams they want to make true at certain age stages (it should be a chore, not a task/checklist) would be by far more intriguing and tasks they can only do while being at that age!
COMMUNITY LOTS
It would be great if we would have a reception desk with NPC's e.g. for Libary (Asking a Liberian for certain books), Gym (Booking a personal trainer, paying a membership to visit that lot - LOL), Museum (booking a tour guide for the exhibition) and stuff like that would be neat.
If a sim would come up and start a conversation that would be dope? Sadly that does not happen! Unless I force them to talk to them... nope not fun!
GALLERY-LOTS
Adding the number of Beds / Bathroom
Option to fix grammar/typos (especially if I did upload my creation)
Adding a category with "Apartments" within the room section (Seriously this is a mess) - make it work! Can you imagine how difficult it is to find newly created cool apartments for San My or Evergreen Harbor?
ILLNESS
I do understand that this is a difficult topic but some basic illnesses should be provided in Basegame. Like having a fever, getting a cold. At least a few basic ones would be neat. Sim feels sick, wants to sleep and they can call a doctor/ visit (rabbit hole) doctor, etc. For children, it would be cool if they would use a cold e.g. as an excuse to stay at home.
CAS
Men Clothes, Hairs and Shoes need to be more modern and diverse! We keep getting similar styles we already have! The fashion industry in real life provides a ton of cool styles in all areas as a base for our male sims. We need dope Chelsa Boots, skinny pants/jeans for our males, cooler t-shirts (some alternative and in solid / muted colors), and coats (trenchcoat), new acc (necklace, earrings, bracelets, rings). Cool modern different hairs (shaved with longer hair versions, variation in different lengths, male buns, etc. facial hairs. Most new hairs we get are more for elders and look very old-school. We for sure had some better hairs in the past. The fluffy high ones? Need to be toned down, they look weird e.g the one from Bowling Pack. We don't live in the 15/16th century. Men rather wear their hair either short but flat and not puffy. If I enter - male hair cuts - I get a ton of cool hairstyles via Google. So I really don't understand why don't have cooler hairstyles in 2021? They deserve the same love as the ladies. I'm a woman and I say this as a woman, men deserve LOVE, too! okay? They also want to be up to date and fancy! Trust me!
BUILD/BUY
GENERAL BASEGAME ISSUE
I have a huge issue with tons of items in the basegame be it CAS or BUILD/BUY that have very few swatches and then lack in having black/white and wooden light/dark brown swatches (Build/Buy). This is the main reason why I don't use them - it's that simple and I bet I'm not alone! Like black/white, and neutral plain colors (no pattern) should be standard? Shouldn't that be self-explanatory to have it? Yeah, the lack of basic, neutral colors and pattern-free solid colors is in basegame a massive issue! Add some basic muted colors in general for all items. Blue/Red/Yellow/Green/Brown/Grey! A ton of items would look so good if we would have this option. Also, a lot of items do not match with the existing swatches but belong by style together and this is so annoying how inconsequent that is.
The issue with lacking white/black matching swatches is a general issue for all items. Be it CAS or in BUILD/BUY (considering matching dark/light brown wooden swatches). Those colors are the most used ones in real life, worldwide! I don't get why we don't have that for all items! This is BASIC and essential! Swatch Color Sliders would be dope - but I think we won't get that or something similar to that - like a color wheel. This would be ideal.
DECO - CATEGORY
Okay, this is a pure mess! In TS2 we used to have an option to add our own categories and filters to sort the content to our liking. I wish we would have that feature in TS4. Simply because it's exhausting to find what you want via categories/packs. A bunch of items are not even in categories where they should be, some categories are even missing. This would need an overhaul and restructure. Or give us a tool to sort the stuff to our liking
. I would love to have a category "World Objects" rather than keep using the cheat! But that's just me.
CONSEQUENCES
TS4 is a happy place in 95% of the case. There is no drama, no consequence for certain actions. Nothing unexpected really happens besides being on fire at times, yeah you can drown at times or burn in the sun as a vampire. Well... yeah it's nice and all but boring? We want drama, we live for drama! Bulgars would be a cool addon. Adding unexpected random death situations would add some quirkiness and action to the game. Well even if it would be for fun, why not kidnapping someone for a while? Yeah, as I mentioned earlier depth is, in general lacking. Especially regarding relationships in general with matching consequences.
BABIES
I don't play them, they are not Sims and horrifying to look at if you zoom in with your strong PC graphics. Boring, flat! I age them instantly up! This would need an overhaul with way more interactions, clothing, and furniture options. That's all I'm gonna say regarding this case.
CONCLUSION
I own all packs, know them in and out and you can trust me I put a lot of thought into the Sims! Thanks a lot for the time to read this long essay!
Sul Sul! Hope to see more improvements in the future before we move to the next title.
Industrial, Steampunk & Modern Architecture. Yup Simmies, too!
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Sue's Architecture | Sue's Stories | Wedding Stuff Pack Ideas
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Below is a list of items that others posted that I strongly second!
1. More ways to spend money. It’s boring to have so much money that you don’t have to worry about anything! Maybe Sims can buy a second lot, vacation home or donate so much money that they have a wing of the hospital named after them.
2. Story progression for townies & NPC’s. I want them to get married/divorced, have/advance in careers, start/end relationships & start new generations. Why can’t my 5th generation Sim marry Bella Goth’s great great grandchild?!
3. More consequences. I want more chances to say, “Holy Cow Plant! What just happened!”
4. Please tune the emotions. Fine should be the standard emotion not happy.
5. Tie the emotions & Whims in with traits.
6. Please revamp & update the Whims.
Here is a list of recent game improvements that were exciting & should be expanded:
1. Sentiments! Please make some of them last longer. If my Sim makes a bad first impression it should stick! If my Sim has a festering grudge make it stronger & harder to overcome.
2. Trait improvements! I like the way certain traits were improved to give them more weight. Please go back and fix the rest of them. Some are downright meaningless in their current form.
3.Likes & Dislikes – Great! Please add more categories like food, entertainment etc. Ex: If my sim dislikes onions they would refuse to eat anything with them in it. Please also refine the likes/dislikes we currently have. If my sim dislikes Folk music they should change it autonomously or leave the room.
Thanks! o:)
First - the camera options! when i go to take photos of my sims or with other sims i wish we could change the angle more, or even decide which way our sim is facing.
Second - in build mode i miss the color wheel for the objects!! it's so hard to decorate a lot how you like when the color swatches for the items are limited.
Oh and I have a great idea I've never seen this in the sims but maybe a Get to Work
Therapist job it would be fun to see how players help sims with their problem I know there are lots of sims who needs a therapist even players can make their sim go to therapy it can help with trouble childrens and it can help parents/new parents become better or a chance to become a super parent. Thank you for reading my thoughts 😃😄
One area I wish the game had more depth and challenge was relationships between other sims. At its current state, it is so easy to go from stranger to spouse in no time and personally it's not engaging. One way that could add more depth and challenge would be to have traits and likes/dislikes partially determine the speed of a relationship (sims that have more in common might become friends quicker, but sims who don't have a lot in common might take longer to build that relationship) or another similar system that will make the difficulty of becoming friends or lovers vary depending on the sim. Perhaps also turn ons and turn offs.
Another thing that may add more depth is fears for your sim. For example, in real life, I am afraid of bees because of a bad experience with them as a kid. At any sight of a bee I will move as far away as I can and I will refuse to go near a bee. If there is a bee near the front door of the house, I will walk around and go to the back door just to avoid it. A sim afraid of bees probably would get afraid and run away if too close to the seasons bee box, and the option to get honey may be grayed out maybe unless the sim has talked to herself in a mirror to work up the courage to try to open it and is feeling particularly confident, and the option to do it again may not come back for a long while even if she talked in the mirror again to try to work up the courage. Maybe the sim won't use objects next to the bee box, and will refuse to stand within 3 or 4 tiles of it (very specific example that would probably be too specific to put in game, but I was trying to use my own fear as an example of how you could possibly see it play out in game). It would be nice to have a system to select fears like we do with likes and dislikes with a various selection of things to be afraid of, and it would make sims scared or terrified if they came into contact with those things and change their behavior to avoid them.
In general, an area that I think needs more depth is the personality of the sims. Each sim didn't feel much different from the other aside from how they looked. Likes and Dislikes were an amazing start to fixing this and I hope more things like that get added to the game to flesh out our sims better (as well as expanding the Likes/Dislikes system and adding more options, like more activity options and maybe adding a new category of likes/dislikes like food or clothing). Things like turn ons/turn offs, wants/fears, strengths/weaknesses could improve the personalities of the sims and make them more interesting to play and feel like you are playing different sims.
So let describe what exactly it means to me:
What would you expect from it?
A more fun game. Currently, it's pretty but boring to play. CAS and Build mode are fine, but Live mode need a lot of improvement in is core gameplay mechanics and also you need to put more energy on bugs resolvation. I don't want you launch your next game and Sims 4 still be plagued with game breaking bugs.
How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?
Spend more time to play and not be bore by it.
What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?
Whims:
Already a feature, but a broken and not updated one. It need to be more related to traits and current aspiration: more personalize to each sims. Look at Sims 2 want and fears and whims overhaul mod to know how to improve this part of your game.
Aspirations:
Currently, too easy, repetitive and boring: compare it to fetch quests in a RPG. They are more tutorial in their soul than a goal you want to achieve. It's not thrilling to try to achieve it like it was in other sims games iteration. A big goal is better, because you can try to achieve it by multiple ways.
Also, Aspirations need to cover all careers (achieve lv.10) and including DLCs one (owning vet clinic, shops, restaurants), other aspirations can be like Lifetime want in sims 2 : Reach Golden Anniversary, Having X children, Marry Off X Children, Have X Grandchildren, Graduate X Children from University, Having and raise X pets, Earn X§ (amount of money), Owning X Business, Max out X skills, Have X Simultaneous Best Friends, Have X Simultaneous Pet Best Friends, Have X Simultaneous Lovers, Have X first dates, Have X Golden dates, Woohoo with X differents Sims. You can read this: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Lifetime_want
Challenges:
The game need more unpredictability. You can add burglars and raccoons (who eat in your trash can) as lot challenges.
Chemistry/attraction system:
Like a said, the game need more unpredictability: mutual relationship bar doesn't do that, it need one-sided/uneven relationships. Not everyone like everything and think the same all the time. Also, in Sims 4 you can meet and marry in the same day! It's to easy. Relationships are too easy.
Likes and dislikes:
It can be and need to be expended.
Plantsims:
CAS:
Be able to make every occult lifestates in CAS (like Plantsims) and be able to chose it whenever you want. Not just when you start making your sims in CAS and need to restart everyting when you forgot to selection which lifestate you want.
B&B:
Spirals stairs: more architectural build to create. More pool items like in previous games.
Intercompatiblity between features:
Off-the-grid and Bust the dust: not adding broom to sweep the dust is a huge oversight for a base game challenge. Also having the jungle adventure items in the pool of gifted items is what to easy and boring to play.
Having stray pets in other worlds.
Having only the residents of the same world as walkby in the neighborhood.
More icons and activities for clubs related to base game and other DLCs.
Gameplay:
More romantic interactions (slow dance, cuddles) and more games for children (and adults why not!) to play, like red-hands, tag, etc. Like in Sims 2.
Premades Overhaul update:
Improve hot and cold weather outfits, makeup, relationships and sentiments, likes and dislikes.
I hope what I wrote will be useful and impactful.
Aliens and Mermaids - I have not played with the latter, but I feel they have received very little love. The skills are just there ready for you to use, it does not make them very interesting to play. I love my Aliens and do use them often, but I have no real incentive to use their powers as they don't really add to the game as there is no progression or consequence so I rarely use them. It also bugs that even when people are fearful of aliens you can still just push past that and befriend them. In sims 3, I enjoyed aliens too, they had to mediate to restore brain function or summon and consume space (yum!). I have seen some references to spellcasters, I actually enjoy this, but do miss the alignment of light, dark and neutral, this could change how the spells performed, so a chillio could cause a sim to freeze to death if darkly aligned. The alignments could link to how quick or slow a caster progresses through magic i.e. mischief and dark alignment. Again it is another that needs a consequence and upping the difficulty. Not everyone should be able to become a spell caster because they want to, those the sage's deem unworthy should have to jump through more hoops (not literally, although that could be funny) but like an even or mini-challenge (we have the errands system now in Cottage living so it could work like that). Also while there is no weakness, the curses should be easier attached and harder to remove, my spellcaster achieved all spells and potions and never once got cursed. And why can't we become sages?
Relationships - love me some drama, but I don't want to have to build it always in my mind. The sims is open, you can fall in love with anyone, it makes things like the 100 baby challenge so easy. I miss attraction - I now use a mod for this and it works well, as someone finds you very attractive, but you see them a basic looking. Having this makes it easier or harder to build a relationship with a prospective partner. The Sims 2 did this with lightning strikes and your sim might give someone 3strikes, but they may only give you one.
One incident that should have had huge repercussions was in my story a mother caught her boyfriend doing woohoo with her young adult daughter, so she went to make grilled cheese!! Seriously! While sentiments do change some of that reaction, the cooldown is too fast - particularly when playing on rotation as I do, and the relationship damage was not massive. Alongside this there are too many things pulling on the emotional system, it's clogged up so even if she is angry, the playful decor and a few jokes means she is playful and anger at the recent event gets pushed down the list of emotion buffs so I can easily (if I wanted) carry on, with the three living together without any issue or drama. The start of a challenge is there and addressing the emotional system. Please don't let my sims cheat or argue without consequence.
Going to work - I love getting asked how my sims should react in situations - but do you need to tell me the outcome? Does it always have to be the same. With the school questions varied, why is it the works ones aren't, chose this gain fame and lose a job or chose this and continue unchanged... where is the challenge? I know what's going to happen, vary it, please and don't tell me. same in jungle adventure
Meaningful development - I want to create interesting sims, then why can't I define their personality separate from their food/diet preferences? While this could be seen as a challenge in itself, it's not great. I am lactose intolerant, but I do not feel it defines my personality. I do like the improvements to the ideal animations due to personality traits and the likes/dislikes have also been positive. I like the three traits system, but that's because I found 5 in the sim 3 meant I had too much choice. I just want to choose a diet separate, please. Could some other traits be developed like in the parenting system?
Skills are developed similarly across the board, but what if sims were more musical, scientific, or physically active, based on traits and likes/dislikes, even parents. It makes it harder to develop some skills, easier for others.
Aspirations are alright, I like the mini-goal setting, so more would be nice, or How about something longer term, I play on long life (as I said I am rotational), something that makes my sims worry if they are not developing, or happy/positive if things are going their way. It should certainly take a lifetime to complete and not a sim week. It is nice when a sim fails to achieve, we all do in life - it's how we learn and grow - perhaps the aspiration meter from sims 2 - goes up with efforts toward the long term life goal and goes down when the sims are failing.
Depth
Family and the emotion buff - why do my sims forget they know their in-laws? Before I can host Winterfest I have to waste time travelling to my various households to reintroduce myself to them, yet their neighbour they spoke to once they still know. Very annoying. Be nice if there can be other relationship types in cas. An in-game, could my cousin's daughter be counted as a distant relative? I don't want to be able to flirt with such a close relative.
When my sim died, I visited their brother and nephew, the brother had no grief buff, but the nephew did, despite the brother having a higher relationship.
There are life things missing, teens going through puberty - this is sort of there via emotional buffs but needs work, they get buried in everything else vying to be at the top of the emotional buff. Mid-life crisis - I miss the chaos.
I am sure there is more, but I know you have a lot to read. Thank you for considering this large handful of thoughts.
Can you give city living more character? Amenities in the apartments. A rabbithole pool that increases fitness and a daycare that you can pay for. There is nothing special about city living in my opinion. Its boring and bland. My sims never live there because its very run down and limits my gameplay. I would love if there were public bikes for example and a boost to certain skills when you live in the city like art and fitness. I want to be able to be proud that my sims come from the city, not rush to move into a house after a day or two. I would love to live in the city for multiple generations and not get tired of it. I want more of an upper east side option in some areas.
Also I want my kids to go on field trips. They might want to go to a space centre and learn about sixam and the galaxy. Or go skiing with their teacher and classmates. (As an event this would be very enjoyable).
Also please add more descriptions to items and create an eco system within the game. For example with the frogs. You could say that they are native to worlds like Selvaldorada (south america). Also add an archeolgy career with detailed descriptions on the fossils that actully teach you things. I want my sim kids to dream of becoming archeologists and moving to selvaldorada.
Activity centers in the worlds. I know this one can be built on our own, but I am very disappointed with the vacation worlds in the game. They should have had some family friendly options where kids could view bugs in outdoor retreat or go to museums to view rare articfacts in jungle adventure. My sims have died on jungle hikes on more than one occasion. Can I view nature and art without risking my life?
Clinic lot types where you can buy medicine from worlds like Mt Komorebi, Selvadorada and the regular medicine and the salves. If my sim gets hurt I want to be able to go to a clinic and not wander around the worlds trying to find medicine.
Laundromats that you pay to wash your clothes at, just to get out of the house. You could take your toddler there and it could be a cute bonding activity.
The ability to become a world famous athlete. I might want to make my sim a worldfamous ice-skater and skate in tournaments and win money. Same with soccer and basketball. Being able to win tens of thousands of simoleans if you put in the work would be so cool.
More afterschool activities for kids. Dance class, soccer practice, basketball practice, art classes, singing classes where you actually have to practice these skills to level up would be cool. I want to be able to buy my kids a football and have them practice so that they could one day maybe be a famous athlete.
The ability to define a sim by where they come from. Windenburgish, Selvadorian, Simlish. (There is a mod for this which is amazingly done).
Please tie maids and butlers to vacation lots. One thing that I despise bout the vacation feature in the game is the fact that it doesn't actually feel like you're on vacation. I don't want to have to cook and clean for myself and care for kids while away on holiday. What is the point? Could you please somehow add staff to the vaction lots to make them more enjoyable?
Give the option to get a mortgage. Having no loan system ties me to one type of gameplay lifestyle. I should be able to buy a bigger home without having to save for one. That is real life after all. Many people have mortgages. (Again there are several mods for this, but it should be in the game).
More valuable discoveries and gemstones. Kids should be able to collect those sim collectable things and win an arcade or something. (What is the point of them exactly?) I would also prefer if you made stuff harder to find and more valuable. Also can we discuss the gemstone situation really quickly? A kids toy should not be more expensive than a ruby.
Useable urns and backpacks. I might want to put all my family urns into one big pretty urn. Picture day at school. (you did it for discover university). I want to remember my sim kids school days. More hours for daycare. I might want a sim to be a stay at home parent but I might not want to have my toddlers around all the time.
Can you give Newcrest more character? can you add a block of apartments or something? I know you created it to give players more empty lots but its such an annoying world at this point. (Is it a metropolis, is it not?)
Make trains, trams and boats useable. (Just add a travel toggle to them). I want to be able to get a train from San Myshuno to Mt. Komorebi. Or a boat/tram from Magnolia Promenade to Willow Creek.
Scout camps. I want my kids to go to a rabbit hole summer camp and come back with fireflies or something.
A post office where my sim can leave stuff for other sims.
Child support. (Again there is a mod for this and it makes a difference). If my sim has an npc parent, they should pay child support.
Also can you make sixam habitable? I feel as though aliens were done dirty. It would be so cool if you decided to live a whole life on another planet. Same with the realm of magic HQ. Being able to live in that world would be awesome. Also can we have a spellcaster rabbithole school for child and teen spellcasters? That would be so fun. I feel like the occults in the game need more territory. If you could live in the magical realm and there were primary and secondary schools for the spellcaster kids, I would literally play realm of magic so much more. Also I would love to be able to live in sixam, eat strange space fruit and dream of one day going to earth. (That would be lit).
Also can you restrict the medical career? I know it sounds weird, but the average person can't just stroll into a hospital and become a nurse you actually have to go to school for that. Same with the astronaut career. Its just odd.
More careers in general. (Like banker, geologist, flight attendent etc.)
Option to vote for sims to become National Leaders if they are in the activist career. The perks could be discounted meals, vacations and a presidential picture. The way we vote for a more juiced community and sharing is caring (which are very odd by the way) I want to vote for a national leader. I want to be able to say, my kid is gonna be president one day.
Vaults with keys (its annoying that only one sim can access a vault).
The ability to invest. (Again this is a mod that exists. Some of my sims literally live off their dividends in gameplay).
Of course cars. yachts. Bigger boats in general. I want to go sailing in Brindleton Bay for a weekend.
Usuable backpacks, medicine cabinets.
Can sims please go to jail for fighting or stealing while in the criminal career? It would be hilarious.
Passports would be a really cool feature. Not being able to travel without one.
Can you please allow children to gain skills while doing their homework? I love the concept of discover university and its one of my favourite packs, but not everyone goes to college and I would still like my teens to have some kind of skillset when they graduate highschool.
Also can you improve the dorms to make life more comfortable? Dorm living is a pain. I don't like having to leave my lots in general anyway, but especially not when I'm trying to get a degree. I don't know why you didn't equip the dorms better. Can we at least have a cookerless kitchen and pool?
Inheritance. Its annoying when my sim has more than one child and I have to leave one of the sim children behind because I don't want all of my hard work to go to waste when the parents die. If the money automatically went to each child that would be great.
Lastly can there be an option to turn off buy mode so we have to go furniture shopping?
Also please let us build our own apartments. I want to be a landlord. And can we have a fully functioning financial system too? I want to be able to take out a business loan and pay taxes.
1) The emotion system is one of the biggest problems. I do like Emotions, but the way it's done it just doesn't work right. My Husband just died? Had a great holiday and the house is pretty so I don't care. Loads of trivial emotions overshadow the things that should matter. Happyness isn't something to work for, it's always the default. Important stuff like "someone died", "my spouse cheated/divorced", and so on, should be visible, not disappear in some back row. Bad moods tend to be weak and disappear very fast. They should hold on for longer. There are several tiers to emotions, but I see them rarely being utilized - where is the difference between sad and very sad? It's just "how many sad points do I have" without real gameplay behind it. A big issue with the emotions is that negative emotions tend to block options - sad sims won't flirt and so on. They are presented as pure obstacles, and the sims themselves will run to the next opportunity to get rid of them. While positive emotions are mostly a little skill buff. Emotions should be more than that. Why not use less punishing and rewarding emotion tiers and keep them for longer? Why shouldn't a sim be a bit sad for more than a day, if it wasn't a punishment that took choice away? That would occasionally shed a tear and look miserable, but also able to kiss a spouse and be nice to others? Leaving the "I'm not in mood for anything" for the higher tiers. Start up high and let the emotion get lesser over time (like shown in the very first trailers).
2) Overall mood is only tied to the emotions. While a lot could be done if the emotions where more believable and stable, there is no goal to play towards. It doesn't really matter if a sim has suffered for a while, the moment the mood gets good it's all forgotten. That contributes a lot to the "whimsical" feel of the game where nothing feels like there is any consequence. Why isn't there some long-term happyness you could contribute to? Something to reward you if you keep your sim happy every day instead of making them suffer? Or traits you could develop? I could see a sim that's been sad a lot develop a "gloomy" bonus trait, like it works with lifestyles.
3) Traits are a big issue. They should shape a sims character, but they don't. What differs a gloomy sim from a cheerful one? One occasional bonus moodlet - that will completely disappear. A reasonably well-treated sim will already be happy most of the time and none of the moodlets would matter. There are very few traits which actually influence how a sim acts instead of giving mostly tiny moodlets. There is so little difference to see. Most traits are only there to provide a bonus or punishment to certain things - a cat lover will like to interact with a cat, but never be sad without one. If you went on about your day without caring about character traits, you would notice not a lot of them.
4) The aspiration system should provide a sense of accomplishment, something to work towards. It doesn't. While some of the bonus traits are nice, most are either hardly noticable or not really related to the aspiration (why does a good botanist get fire proof?). Aspirations are made to be easily switched, to be played one after another. While it's nice to get these bonus traits, they don't really get used - sims tend to get another aspiration soon, carry on with their lives, follow another path and hardly use the old bonus again. Like a super parent can provide powerful boosts to children - but to get the trait their first kid must already be a successful adult. While nice this bonus will likely never be used. The ones I do like most are the children bonus traits. While I think gaining skills is already easy in the game and doesn't need a boost, it is something that will be used and helps shape up personality. Would be cool if teenagers had something similar, in addition to the adult aspirations. Like being a nerd in school could earn you some permanent extra opportunities in tech and so on.
If the reward isn't worth it they could at least be fun to play with. However most aspirations don't exactly provide replayability. A whole lot of them are what is mostly called "tutorial aspirations", being more of a checklist of what can be done with a pack or feature. While they might give some lead the first time you play with a feature, they feel more like a chore after that. Kids just can't be that physically gifted if they didn't have the chance to play at the park, I guess. Aspirations as a whole feel very limited, mostly tied to single skills (never jobs). They could need some more freeform. I can collect a variety of stuff, but if my sim strives to be a collector, he has to limit himself to rocks and frogs to feel good about it.
The aspiration and whim reward shop isn't very rewarding either. Most of it is glorified cheats, which can be nice, but it's more of a "seen once, bored" kind of reward.
5) Whims aren't wishes. Now they don't have to be, but the lack of wishes does leave a hole. If you think about it, what are wishes good for? The obvious answer is that they provide some gameplay prompt, to avoid boredom. However they also help shape personality. What is the personality of a sim if not what the player can see and interpret of it? A family sim could wish to spend time with his children - but he could also wish to get them successful or to buy them loads of toys. A romantic sim could wish to sleep around - or to flirt with the same person all the time. While wishes tend to be random, people like to take them as personality hints, they do exactly what personality traits without loads of autonomy behind them cannot. Whims cannot fill that spot like they are.
Their first problem is that there are way too few whims, and most of them aren't contributing to what could be interpreted as character. Sims get whims to buy about everything, and then they want to get married and have children and then maybe some trivial stuff like throwing waterballoons. They are plain boring. They rarely relate to character traits. There are no whims that would really make an impact in your everyday life. If I think of wishes, I think of stuff like "would want to punch that guy who insulted me earlier", "quit that annoying job", "do this interesting stuff". Whishes related to who your sim was, what he was doing, how he was acting. They came up according to the place you went, the things you did, the things that happened to your sim and sometimes a bit of randomness. And they were rewarded, with happyness. The things a sim wanted could really bring change into their life, and it was up to the player to go along with it or not.
I would love something like wishes, and it doesn't need to imitate older systems. Whims can stay whims, but they should at least get some love. The options rolled should align with character and experiences made, have a lot more options than just "buy stuff". Long term prompts could get their own system, but they should definitely be into the game.
6) The way sims act with each other just doesn't work. I do love sentiments and those parenthood family moodlets, and what they bring to the game. But it just doesn't work if the sims themselves don't really react to each other. If my family dad cheats on his wife, I expect her to be angry at him. Not to go downstairs and yell at the neighbor because that's what "angry" does and he's still busy. I know it's difficult to implement more autonomy. But I play a game, I don't read a book. I don't want to scroll through moodlets to find out what's the issue, I want my sim to really react to it. To react to the person who angered them, who made them cry, who embarrassed them, who made them happy. Not for my loyal family sim to just flirt around with everybody because that makeout session with his spouse was just so hot.
7) Much like with personality traits, I want age stage to play a role in who my sim is and how he/she reacts. Everything from teenager to elder feels the same, and even children don't really feel like children. A big part of it is the lack of wishes/unique gameplay prompts that would show up their different preferences. Especially teenagers behave like adults with a school career. They could need a combination of unique aspirations, moodlets, whims, gameplay prompts and activities to feel special. Same goes for elders. I do appreciate the approach of "everything available for everysim", however this lead to a point where pretty much everything is targeted to (young) adults. Get some more options that make sense for those age groups.
Get the children to act more like children instead of standing around in discussion circles. Let them have some more open-ended aspirations. Maybe have unique lifestage traits. Just anything.
8) I want to see consequence. I want to see sims reacting long-term to stuff like death and cheating, to react to being treated well or treated bad over a period of time. Might be a happyness meter, or a stress meter, or anything else, but I want to see a reaction to what happens to a sim, that lasts longer than your generic moodlet. That has a different place than being hidden in a long line of everyday stuff.
I would expect the sims to feel much more unique, the game to feel much more motivating and interesting. With some leads to help you out of everyday routine into an interesting drama, should you feel like it, while leaving creative freedom to us.
Well.....
ONE of the best features about Sims 4 is the Active careers that come with Get Famous and Get To Work game packs as well Dine Out, Home decorator career is where players can interactively go to work with their sims and not a rabbit hole or create a business for them that is functional. Additional careers in Real Estate would also make sense as there is already home decorator career along with property and/or apartments already a big part of the game.
So for more game depth, how about making all careers active and virtual with more time to complete tasks as well as changeable lots as some like in GF are not.
For even more game depth, making tasks more interesting would also be ideal. And don't cringe, but adding realistic transportation like limos for stars in Get Famous, cars, or patrol cars for police career would also add more realism. Plus, we all know celebrities don't really show up to red carpet award shows or vip lounges on bikes in their best outfits, lol.
Altogether, just as in real life, what sims do for their career is important part of their life as well so a big improvement in this would be appreciated and will add more challenge to the game for sure.
Lastly, adding more traits, making townies dress and look more real with clothes picked for them or just decent clothes will help make game less distracting as also being able to control visitors to sims lots, and making all sims more autonomous like in the marketing trailers with less "needs" to be filled every few minutes of gameplay would help players concentrate on having their sims be more active in their storylines or challenges.
I also would love to see newspapers in the game, i think they would add a lot a depth and it would also contribute to the off the grid lot challenge, because this way the sims wouldn't need to use the phone, so they wouldn't need electricity at all.
Also i think that wall phones could add depth to the game because they would fit well for decade challenges and people could use it in their country homes, also we could get more prank calls or opportunities calls on this phone.
Another thing that would add depth is for us to be able to choose a different colour for the hats/ ribbons that come attached to certains hairstyles.
Thank you so much! And sorry for another post, but i keep remembering more things 😅
More ideas:
-Non controlled Sims being at job in their working hours like it was before an update over a year ago.
-Chance of buying a second house.
-Customize an NPC job: Making a Sim being in a room in your household doing nothing in selected hours and salary and typing a job to them like in the Ministry of labor. I would like to simulate an assistant of my self-employed Sims, a lawyer, a therapist, a bodyguard, a tax consultant a building janitor, etc.
-More relationships in CAS: cousin, sister-in-law, father-in-law, stepfather, half brother, aunt, etc.
Firstly there have been so many other great ideas already stated which I'd agree with so I am going to add a few that I've not seen.
1. Introduce interests and let people work towards them like in sims 2. For example, I am interested in food. I can build interest in different ways by researching recipes, talking about recipes, trying new recipes. Interests can be from 1 to 6 and they can be linked to whims e.g I want to learn a new recipe, likes and dislikes e.g I like cooking, and your ability to join clubs. It also unlocks new Interactions and may lead to quicker skill gains. This system would makes sims lives more than just about work. Moreover there could be chance cards like, so and so has been researching food, they no longer want to eat meat should they become a vegetarian etc. There could also be rewards like monthly food packages, recipe books etc for a small fee,
2. A rumour system, where someone can start a rumour about you and you can choose to deal with it by talking it out, fighting, social media, suing etc. But also someone may see your spouse cheating and there is a chance that it gets back to you
3. Improved career progression. Make some careers require a degree but equally allow people who don't have degrees to work harder to get promotion, e.g requirement could be having a very good relationship with your boss
4. More ways to spend money e.g you either have to go to a shop to buy clothes or changing clothes in cas (or hair) requires a small fee. Some clubs could reply a monthly membership fee, you can have subscription services e.g clothes, interests, or pay to go museums, exclusive bars etc.
5. More rabbithole activity e.g you can invite a friend to a concert that will build relationship points, you may return from activity liking new music or have a bad experience and therefore no longer like music. Random events can be added to calendar and you don't need to go with them, events can be 18+, for families, for couples, for those with particularly interests or for all. They can be randomised so you never know what is going on each week. You could also get teens trying to sneak to a concert, get caught (or not) and brought home to police. The idea being that experiencing new things will influences whims (or wants and fears), likes and dislike, lifestyle e.g vegetarian, dairy free, wants to be a minimalist (new lifestyle) etc.
6. Interactions should be unlocked depending on relationship or skill level. The more you build the more deeper Interactions you get. Higher friendship means you get to know sims faster and give a greater chance of influencing them.
7. Better pack integration. This will make up it feel like one world rather than multiple single worlds
Thanks .
#1 : cars
Please include cars in the game or some form of public sim transportation like... Tramway track to get around within a neighborhood or individual worlds. Sims could use it to go to work, meet up with friends for actives or even ride it together as a group.
#2 : shopping
A local grocery store or weekend farmers market where you can get fresh ingredients. This could be used so many ways. Think a after school job for teens, a way for sims to shop for fresh veggies or pick up a birthday present or Christmas gift for someone. Not to mention running into their friends or stumbling into their ex while out and about.. ackward!
#3 : simple weather
some simple seasons/weather like Rain in the spring, leaves falling and winding days in the fall, a bit of snow in the winter. You don't have to add the complete seasons pack but enough to make the game feel more realistic. You could do a separate mini pack for severe weather like blizzards, tornadoes, sand storms etc.
#5 : work
include some sort of get to work and dine out theme within the base game. Something that allows you to follow your sim to work and complete task that help them achieve there aspirations within the base game. You could pick a few jobs for base game that would allow this.. Police, business, artist in the park teaching at a high school, waiter or cook at a restaurant /bar/cafe, cashier at a grocery store, retail store or cafe to start. Then later expand to add more interesting jobs with activities in another pack.. Model, doctor, scientist, politician, act etc. This will allow people to actively be involved with their sims jobs more as well as give give them more chances to get out with sim friends for dinner or shopping.
#6 : realistic sims
more complex sim characters through feelings, memories and family relationships / events. Example would be the ability to have family reunions, graduations and baby showers. The ability for sims to recognize related sims, 2nd cousins, aunts & uncles etc.
#7 : A mini storyline option.
At the beginning of the game the players have the choice to do free play or storyline. If they pick free play they are free to go on as usual with the game if they pick storyline there could be a short storyline in which allows your player to really be involved in the story behind the world or characters within. At the end of the storyline if they complete it they could unlock hidden items or a mini vacation world. There could also be quest throughout that fall into the storyline that are optional to take and complete. #8:world travel
semi open world that would allow sims to move throught the world or neighborhood they are in without a loading screen for easier screen play. If by chance a person wanted to jump from say Sulani to Windenburg or Oasis Springs then their would be a loading screen but to move within sulani there wouldn't be. Everything I mentioned here is in regards to the base game. These things can be updated gradually like regular updates not all at once. Many other games are continually doing major updates like these gradually and it makes the players feel like having a good baasgame is just as important to the company making it as it is to the players playing it. The better the base game the more players will keep coming back for more...
While I have not - and have no intention to - read the previous comments in this thread, discussions I've seen on the forums and other places incline me to believe that many, if not all, the comments you are getting are conflating "Challenge" with "depth." And while that's certainly one valid understanding, it's not the only one.
For me, greater depth would not necessarily require greater challenge (though I am not adverse to greater challenges in the game) but rather that autonomous behavior and moodlets make sense within the sim's personality. Far too often I've seen certain moodlets or behaviors that either didn't mesh with my understanding of a trait (for example, as someone who identifies as a Maker, the Maker trait should include knitting, cross-stitch, painting, woodworking, working at the robotics station, shaping clay into something, helping/working on school projects and arguably even cooking and baking as things that will stave off the "idle hands" moodlet in addition to fabrication.) Or seem to be applied completely at random. (A book lover's first action when bored should be to the bookcase rather than the computer, even right at generation. Writing should be fun for creative + Book Lover, etc.)
Without completely reworking the existing trait system, increasing the number of available trait slots and preferences and tweaking how those traits and preferences influence autonomy (as opposed to mood) is probably the simplest way to help us give our sims' more ways to influence sims' autonomy so that they "stay in character". Traits should also be clearer about what they do and don't influence, and there should be more traits available to allow for more subtle variations of personality. For example "introvert" vs. "Loner" (as the two are not the same thing. Introverts wouldn't be tense around people they don't know, but they would, say, increase their social need more slowly with someone who wasn't already a friend, and need "Me time" after being at a social event, community lot, or festival.)
So, again, for me depth means more ways to define my sim's personality in ways that the game will recognize so that they act in character autonomously and I don't have to babysit their every action. Unplayed sims would especially benefit from this, as they would likewise behave appropriately when seen "in the wild."
thank you for giving the community the opportunity to share their thoughts. I am totally enthusiastic about the many entries and ideas. Personally, I'm an absolute family player, so my idea of depth is very much focused on this area.
I know a lot of my suggestions go into great detail.
[b]1.) Wedding[/b]
- more possibilities / animations for marriage proposals (such as in TS2 at the table)
- Bachelor parties would make it even more realistic
- the guests often do not all notice that the ceremony is taking place. They could also react to it afterwards (applause, toasting, etc.)
- Tradition: throwing the bridal bouquet
- more bridal wear (dresses, veils, hair accessories etc.)
- more objects
- honeymoon
- couple dance
- (if planned as an event) emotions before the wedding (excitement, joy, tension, etc.)
- celebrate wedding anniversary
[b]2.) Pregnancy[/b]
- Examinations (which gender, how many babies) in the hospital
- desire for gender or number of children
- gender parties
- pregnant sims should continue to age and not pause old age
- more options to share about pregnancy with other sims
[b]3.) Babies[/b] (my biggest concern)
Unfortunately, babies are objects. I also enjoy playing in large families that live in large houses. Then I have to decide whether the baby sleeps alone in the living room all night or lies in the parents' bedroom all the time during the day. Most of the time, interactions only happen when the baby is crying. I think that's a shame. It would be nice if
- there would be more clothes for babies
- they were not tied to their cradle
- changing tables
- more cribs
- Calm and breastfeed babies on the rocking chair
- more interactions (bathing, carrying around etc.)
- Baby carriers in which the babies can also sleep
- features for babies
- take babies with you on vacation
- lullabies
- [b]HERE, MY BIGGEST WISH: BABY CARRIAGE TO WALK[/b] -> The following would be important to me: a difference between strollers for children and toddlers - also strollers for twins, triplets - sibling strollers (baby and toddler) - children should be able to push the strollers by now - the interaction of the family walk so that EVERYONE can go along (including dogs)
[b]4. Toddlers[/b]
- more interaction between toddlers
- stroller (mentioned already)
- At the beginning you should be able to crawl and not walk directly
- calm down on the rocking chair
- the possibility of sleeping in bed with the parents
- (even if I hate them in real life) family beds!
- lullabies
[b]5. children[/b]
- night parties (sleepover)
- sleep together with the parents
- Over the weekend the possibility to send the children to grandma and grandpa
- school bus or friends who pick up the children for school
- more extracurricular activities
- bicycles
- Children should have more opportunities to interact with the babies (for example, that they can hold the babies while sitting)
- the opportunity to walk the dog
[b]6. teenager[/b]
- don't look so much like an adult
- house parties
- ask if you can go out (like in TS2)
- (if there should ever be a car): the driver's license
- blemished skin / pimples
[b]7. Family gameplay[/b]
- more trips as family
- Board games that can be played with 6-8 people
- generally more activities that can be done together (with large families)
- the possibility of calling friends and relatives who take care of toddlers and children (as in TS2)
- Performances / graduations / funerals to which family members can be invited
- social worker/ Youth welfare office that the children take with them when they are neglected
- Kitchen machines (like the Thermomix) in which you can make your own baby food
As with many mods released in the last year it would be interesting to be able to ask other sims about their main memories. Things like if they have children, if they are married, if they want children, if they have seen a mutual acquaintance recently and pass on information related to that relationship.
In my opinion, the alchemy between sim is also very important, divisible between mental and physical. This gives the game a twist, otherwise it seems that all sims get along with everyone and this is easily boring.
It would be very nice to see relationships that develop unevenly on both sides. Unrequited loves, friendships, jealousies (emotion not present in the game at the moment by the way).
WHAT COULD BE A CHALLENGE FOR ME IN THIS GAME: being able to evolve the character as in a story. Therefore, having parameters that indicate some characteristics of my Sim that can be modified through the player's actions. The ideal would be to start from some characteristics, for example from shy to extroverted, from unpleasant to nice etc (as in parentood). The player should be able to set himself a goal (in CAS). For example, a character that we have created shy has the goal of becoming an extrovert. Therefore, having a more complete management of the character from many points of view, also and above all the psychological one.
A tip: I think it would be very interesting to see a pack focused on love. Half of the game revolves around love affairs, so I think a themed pack would be perfect. There are so many aspects to explore, and then they would be infinitely reusable feautures.
COMPATIBILITY
It should not be so easy for us to romance each and every Sim (outside of Agnes ofc). Sims should have preferences and be more attracted to certain types of Sims (or not attracted), although they can still end up with someone outside these preferences. The Sims 2 and 3 both had attraction systems. A combination of the 2 would be ideal but I don't know if that'd work in Sims 4, so anything that would work would be an improvement.
WHIM SYSTEM
I used this only briefly because the whims were repetitive and random. Adding whims from later packs' content and making them relevant to what the Sim is doing, likes, does for a living, etc. would greatly improve the system.
TRAITS
While the recent update improved things for some traits with increasing/decreasing happiness there's still room for improvement. Some suggestions for interactions based on specific traits:
Slob - make more and bigger messes, ex. piles of trash everywhere, more likely to get roaches
Glutton - get fatter quicker if not being active
Loner - leave room autonomously if too many Sims in it
Insane - able to wear inappropriate clothing randomly
Evil - bring back steal candy from toddlers
Noncommittal - should be difficult to get into a relationship
Family Oriented - should be difficult to get them to cheat on spouse/break up with spouse, should feel guilty if do cheat even if not caught
Self-Assured - higher confidence should lead to greater success in romance and career
Hates the Outdoors should be introduced as counter to Loves the Outdoors
- it would be nice in general to add at least one trait in every expansion and game pack
Lastly, 3 traits is not enough to give a Sim a good personality; it's very limiting. 5 traits in the Sims 3 was a good number with a 6th from getting a degree from university. If that's not possible maybe 4 base traits with a 5th from uni.
Thanks again for reading!
Here's a breakdown of how careers could be deeper, and more challenging in The Sims 4:
1. My sim has to apply, and pass an interview, to get a job.
This could be simulated through a multiple choice chance card system where my sim disappears for an interview, the interviewer asks them questions, and I have to select the responses from multiple choices, which have the chance of failing the interview. Things that we really do get asked in real interviews - what is our background, why do we want this job, what are our goals, what are we passionate about.
Alternately, and this would be super fun in my opinion, make it a scenario reminiscent of the Headmaster scenario in the Sims 2. We have to score enough points to get the job, broken down into categories like skills and qualifications, professionalism, schmoozing.
2. My sim has to apply for promotions, and could be knocked back in favour of someone else.
3. Jobs and promotions have harder skill and qualification gates. For example, I could get an entry level part time job, which adds to my "work experience" (this could be an actual point tally in the Sim's career tab or something like that). Work experience, skills and education all matter for more long term careers. If the player has University installed, some careers and promotions should be locked to Sims that have a degree, or an appropriate amount of work experience. Just any old Don Lothario should be able to become a doctor. And not just Uni degrees - schooling should matter. The grade my sim child achieves should impact what jobs they are eligible to take. Again, we as the player can work around this by working hard to gain heaps of skills and experience that could get us promoted and into better careers, but we have to work for it.
4. More chance cards with harsher results. The Sims 2 had this downpat - yes, we could always just click "ignore" on the chance cards if we wanted to. But those really made you pause and think, because you could be looking at a massive bonus, skill gains, or demotion, or instantly getting fired. Yes, please. Bring on the challenge.
And just as an extra aside -
I'd really like to be able to have a small home business again, please. The selling table is good, but still. An actual home business. Please.
With that being said. I loved the storyline of Strangerville and would also love to see each neighborhood get 1 or 2 storylines that the player can choose to play or in options to ignore if they wish to. It could be something easy like collecting bugs to find a rabbit hole. Then y'all could go all out and create a storyline for vampires (good and evil) to play out in order to unlock certain powers. Maybe an evil vampire has a certain power that a good vampire can never have and vise versa. Btw I love Sims 4 Vampires. I always play with the same vampire now (Cassandra Goth who was kidnapped by Vlad and changed against her will). Anyways, I loved playing the story in Strangerville and would love to see each neighborhood in Base game get one. Thank you thank you thank you for all your hard work! Been Simulating my mind since year 2000 Sims 1.