Upgrading the family tree would bring a higher level of depth in the Base Game. The family tree is essential for legacy and family players to fully appreciate the scope of their games and yet it seems lackluster. Culling is needed to make sure the save file you playing in still operates well, but it becomes a problem when your deceased sims and descendants just cease to exist. I don't mind culling at all, but don't appreciate how my sims also get permanently deleted from the family tree. I, like many other players probably feel frustrated to see all the work we put into generations of a family just disappear like the sims were never there, to begin with. It shatters my heart every time and I would rather not press the genealogy button because it breaks my spirit when I play. I hope the sims team can improve the family tree because it's so important when it comes to playing, for the memories.
I like many simmers have my own opinions but I think these points would be a positive direction.
1. Negative Consequences - The Sims 4 has few or very short termed consequences for bad decisions or negative behavior.
There is little consequences for being a cheater in a relationship. IRL people who cheat on their spouse or partners can cause devastating effects upon their families
There is little negative consequences for Evil or criminal Sims when these things in real life cause actual damage to life prospects especially criminals who are caught.
It used to be that Sims who did bad things got gossiped about. Negative behavior should have a tangible effect on relationships. If a criminal Sim gets caught and they are married to a good Sim that should effect the relationship.
If a Sims does a mean interaction do a pet and it gets back to an animal lover their should be animosity between the two Sims
If you don't pay bills not only will the Utilities be cut off but the will send the Repo Man eventually
Power should sometimes go out in Thunderstorms
If you have a fancy house but don't put in burglar alarms a burglar will attempt to break in
If you don't place fire alarms the fire fighters wont come unless they are called
If you don't get your Sims or Pets inoculated they will eventually get sick.
Bad Sims don't get visited by Father Winter. They get a special visit from the Krampus and he leaves coals and fights with them
2. Because there is very little negative consequences there is very little real drama. Perhaps a tweak to reputations and relationships are in order
3. I would have much more inter-pack functionality, especially with past packs. For example if a Sims is practicing Yoga (Spa Day) and their dog (Cats & Dogs) is smart it could learn their own interpretation of the postures. Or you introduce a new pack and it is set in the Desert and a Spell caster goes to visit they could pick up a new spell by interacting with a local Spell-caster or buying a book
4. It would be nice to be able to set the climate and weather on each neighborhood individually so that each will be a unique experience. Don't be afraid to add some new weather if we have Seasons. Remember that inter-pack thing previously discussed.
New Weather
Blizzards - Intense snowing and really inappropriate to be out in
Hail
Hurricane
Sandstorms
5. We have too few lots per neighborhood.
6. What happened to the cute new holiday decor items we used to get over the years as just a complimentary download? Ordinarily I'm fully understanding about how things require time and that is money but You don't have to do much but a small something is a perfect gesture of goodwill.
Here is a small suggestion list to get you started. It doesn't have to be at once but really.
Halloween & Christmas Table place settings for setting the table
Holiday themed table runners
Holiday Themed Pet Collars
Pet costumes in classic styles
Lighted topiaries
Holiday themed tablecloths for the serving tables
Being able to add decorative holiday stockings on the fireplaces with mantles
Adding a Poinsettia flower arrangement to the possibilities at the flower arranging bench. Maybe something spooky looking for Halloween
Classic Horror Monster costumes for costume parties (Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein's Monster, Wolfman, Vampira, Creature from the Black Lagoon)
Plum Pudding and other treats
Apple Bobbing tub
New Decor style for the Xmas tree decorating
7. Ambiance - What the game is lacking is a bit of ambiance. We have so many decorative items that have no function. At the very least bring back or newly add these ambiance attributes
Sound
Door chimes - Man I miss the ability to pick the ones I want per house
Grandfather clocks & mantle clocks that chime
Cuckoo clocks that cuckoo
Bell towers and town clock
Wolf howls, owl hoots and bat screeches in appropriate places
Visuals
Can we please have the Tea Set from the Oasis Moroccan Kit be useful
Can you please add some birds to the bird bath maybe the ability to fill it or clean it
Steam coming of the water of a pool in cold weather
Dripping faucets on cheap sinks
Icicles on roof in winter
Can we please be able to change flame color in the Fireplaces, Bonfires, Campfires, Torches and Candles again?
8. Emotions that make sense.
Grief that makes sense. One can feel a little sad about an acquaintance who passes but it should feel more intense and for longer if your BFF, Parent, Spouse, Sibling, Child or Pet passes away. Those are some of the most intense feelings of grief for a human being. My sims shouldn't be all but breaking down for another Sim who they spoke to at the karaoke bar for a few minutes dying unless that Sims dies right in front of them.
9. Can we please set a menu with the caterers for parties. Them picking their own menu really is just sad.
10. More milestones for kids & Teens.
Learn to drive
Teaching a kid to swim
Parents teaching their kid to ride a bicycle
Graduation - Give a graduation gift, Graduation parties
Boarding Schools - Impressing Head Masters, School Uniforms relevant to particular schools, Tuition for Boarding Schools or Private Schools
11. A few but not a lot of rabbit hole places mostly just for career places.
Couples Therapist after cheating issue
Jail
City Hall & Court House
Banks
Observatory and science building
Stadiums for sporting events
Military Base
Office Building - For business career, Journalism, Therapist, etc.
12. Don't be reticent to make Baking a Base Game Skill. Its been 6 years since its pack came out. You could overhaul cooking and baking and move all the baked good into one heading nobody will honestly complain. Tell you what you could offer a free Ice Cream Case and an Ice Cream Parlor Lot designation for all those Ice Cream Flavors to anyone who bought that pack as a goodwill trade for not getting bent out of shape over this. You might get a few complainers but far more people will praise you.
Please make all fruit pies names be particular to their particular fruit filling. (Apple, Apricot, Banana Cream, Blackberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Key Lime, Peach, Plum, Raspberry, Strawberry Rhubarb) Just saying it's a fruit pie is dumb.
13. More opportunity for spending money to gain unique experiences. At some point there just seems a lack of ways to spend money.
This link has many ways we can spend some excess wealth. I contributed heavily to this thread. Please consider some of these ideas. https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17899887#Comment_17899887
14. You might wish to consider bringing back the Sims 2 carpool to give more flavor to careers.
15. Personally I would like to see more need to do errands and general tasks around the house
Call the exterminator for house spraying
Car Washes, Tune ups, change the tires, oil changes
Clean the pool
Clean the bird bath and fill it with clean water
Fill up tires on bikes, oil the chain
Get the cat or dog their shots or pay their pet license fee at the Vets
Get pets Teeth cleaned at the Vet
Get Teeth Cleaned at the Dentist. Go To a dental exam.
Go To the Doctors for a Physical
Go To the Doctors for inoculations
Go To the Groomers for the Dog
Shovel snow off the sidewalk or driveway
Spaying or Neutering Pets
Trim the dog's nails
Trim Hedges
Tune the piano, violin, guitar
Water house plants
Wind the Grandfather Clock
16. More wild animals where appropriate. Please make them have their unique sounds and actions. Don't make them a cat or dog that just looks like the animal. Im perfectly fine if you can only certain types in certain places. It really adds to the above mentioned ambiance.
Wolves
Skunks
Deer
Racoon
Owls in trees
17. Going back to negative consequences and drama. Please bring back the Burglar. Seriously you could make it awesome by have sophisticated burglar equipment for places like Museums and galleries, Jewelry stores, rich homes.
Sophisticated alarms and deterrence equipment
NPC Guards, Bouncers etc.
Fighting an intruder or the police doing it
The option to allow the burglar to escape
Insurance
Jail and pressing charges
18. Please make the door and gate locks have an interaction that says Accessible to Household AND Employees. Which include Butlers, Nannies, Maids, Gardeners, Exterminators and hired party staff. Please have one that says the same but excludes pets.
19. Beds need a few additional UPGRADES or interactions
Improve mattress quality
Add Heating Blanket Upgrade
Change dirty sheets to clean interaction
Fumigate for Bed Bugs
20. Restaurants need a few tweaks to be better
Bars should function and NPC Bartenders should be an assignable role
We should be able to assign duties to employees when we own the restaurant
We should be able to hire family members in positions
we should be able to hire traveling musicians to entertain customers
Can we please do something about the diners playing musical chairs
Remember to tip ad give option for the most appropriate amounts
21. Diet choices should NOT be a personality Trait. Please make sure the Vegans are very vocal about their veganism
Lactose Intolerant
Omnivore
Pescetarian
Vegan
Vegetarian
22. Body hair, More Tattoos, Fingernails & Toenails for CAS
Fabulous opportunity to further customize Sims
Give opportunities for new Spa treatments
Give new job opportunities for Sims
23. Please make the water in Granite Falls swimmable
24. Memories
25. Skill Journal - The skill journal was a wonderful way to keep working with skills even after you've maxed one. The challenges gave great benefits and they were actually applicable to the skill use.
26. The Chemistry System - I think this is one of the ways you can actually add a form of challenge into the Sims 4 for relationships. I think allowing perimeters on the kinds of things that makes a Sim attracted to another Sim is a great idea and I love to have it back. Sims fall in love and get married far too easily. I say pick 3 turn ons and 1 turn off.
Employment Status
Eye Color
Facial Hair
Fitness
Hair Color
Hygene
Interests
Life State
Makeup Use
Personality Trait
Tattoos
Wears Glasses
27. Interests this could figure into the Likes & Dislikes. Just a set of varying points that can be distributed amongst a few categories that can indicate how interested a Sim can be in various topics and activities. The points system would be from 0-4. O being not Interested 4 being Very Interested. It can help to make each Sim a bit more nuanced and can affect their Fun level during an activity, emotional state, job satisfaction depending if they work in a field they like, to visible boredom in a conversation with another Sim about a topic they don’t have any interest in.
Adult Sims Interests
Aliens
Archeology
Arts & Crafts
Astronomy
Automobiles
Cooking, Baking & Food
Crime
Culture
Environment
Exercise
Fashion
Games
Gardening
Health & Wellness
Literature
Music
Outdoor Activities
Paranormal
Pets
Politics
Romance
Sci-fi
Sports & Fitness
Technology & Science
Travel
TV & Movies
The Weather
Wild Animals
Work
Child Interests
Aliens
Animals
Clowns
Dinosaurs
Flowers
Insects
Monsters
Ninjas
Outdoor Activities
Pets
School
Super heroes
Toys
Weather
Pet Interests
Animals & Bugs
Food
My Family/Pack
Outside
Playtime
Scary Things
Sleeping & Comfy Places
Toys
28. Refrigerators that have a "Put away all perishables" Flower Benches that do the same for all flowers
29. Jogging with the Dog(s)
30. I you do actually give us cars please allow us to set ownership of the vehicles. Also turn on radio
31. Fix all oversights, mistakes, and bugs efficiently and stop with the corporate non-apologies when you mess up. Take responsibility without excuses. If you make something that misses the mark or leave something obvious out, just add it in an update and let's all move on. Everyone makes mistakes and misjudges things sometimes. It takes a better person to effect change.
For example Llamas should have gone in Jungle Adventure and Sheep in Cottage Living.
Cottage Living should have gotten a buttercharm.
We should have gotten a Pool Table by now
Kimonos or Yukatas should have gone in Snowy Escape in Sleepwear at least
The fruit stand in Cottage Living is lame and even you guys should have acknowledged that and put in Grocery stores
Just admit you messed up by not having decent Underwear, Sleepwear, Swimwear, Outerwear for creatures like Vampires and make some reasonable ones that will be fitting for them
Post edited by redrogue60 on
“All mushrooms are edible, but some only once.” Terry Pratchett
For me, more depth basically comes down to more control and (most importantly) more to make sims feel like unique individuals. I want sims I can connect with like I did in the previous games. I saw on Twitter it was recommended that you guys take time to play the older games just to get a better understanding of what we mean and while some may take it as sarcasm or pettiness I honestly do think it's a good idea to play 1-3 if possible. A lot of the depth that players reference is something that's already been done before in those games, and I know you guys want to try something new and different with Sims 4 but there's nothing wrong with working with what works and improving it and still delivering new things at the same time and/or equally. I often feel like one of the things done poorly in Sims 4 is balancing the new with the old. I also think looking more towards psychology and developmental stages would give you guys great examples of what's meant by depth. I did a bit of research in the spoilers of my post here for toddlers and babies in particular but the the first site I linked there covers development for babies up to teens. That's a great example of what I mean. Another thing, I know technically this isn't the place for it but I personally would love to have a far better understanding of why things are the way they are with Sims 4 and why it's difficult or not possible to give us that balance with progression and innovation with each new game.
But back to depth. Personalities have always been my biggest issue. They still need a lot of work in Sims 4. Quite frankly, while I understand what you were aiming to do, I'd be fine if emotions were done away with completely since sims main personality seems to simply be emotional. There were a few improvements but sims are still pretty boring and act the same. There's also the over exaggerated expressions. Expressive is good but they come across as over dramatic and often times it's hard to take sims seriously even when they're angry or upset. Part of it is probably the art style but they tend to come across as childish to me. Something I always thought that would add to the depth of sims personalities is a combination of personality traits and personality points (or a personality scale) . The points could be a support system of sorts to the traits giving sims even more depth and help dictate what a sim is or isn't likely to do when no being played at the moment. This article gives an example of what I think points or a scale could consist of which are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Meanwhile personality traits could be the main attraction of sorts. Where the big five personality dimensions I listed apply for every sim on some level, not every smaller, so to speak, personality trait will apply to every sim and that's where even more uniqueness could shine through. But personality traits need to be beefed up. More of an overhaul rather than minor tweaks would be better. For example a few good examples @PrincipleOfEntropy actually has a few good post that I'll link here and here. Again, the previous games have some of the best examples of depth. I'm not saying copy and paste the formula, but take the formula and kick it up some notches. Improve upon it. Study the personality traits if need be to give a more in depth and a better experience. I also think there should be at least 5 or more personality trait slots from the start as well seeing as some personality traits aren't exactly traits yet take up a trait slot anyway. Things like lactose intolerant and vegetarian aren't really someone's personality and should fall under a different category than personality trait such as dietary needs.
An attraction system with turn ons and turn offs and to better handle on who sims are attracted to and who they aren't would also be nice. And I like that likes and dislikes are back and limitless but I feel there should be more detailed preferences which turn ons/offs could fall under as well. And the type of affect those preference could have could be something like being more likely to find a sim whose preferred hobby is basketball at a park or basketball court or a sim whose preferred hangout it the bar at a bar, or a sim who likes vacations to be seen in vacation worlds. Something along those lines instead of seeing the same sims randomly walk the streets of literally any world. I think something like that could decrease the chances of seeing the same sims no matter where you go because they'll be more likely to hang out in a locations they prefer if not at home, though there should be the slight chance they'll hang out elsewhere depending on their other likes and the preferences of people in their households.
Being able to create a broader arrange or relatives and others in CAS such as grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, half siblings, exes, enemies, friends, relatives. Also the ability to link newly created sims to already existing ones like say I create a sim but now I want to go back and create living or deceased family members and loved ones, enemies, etc to aide storytelling. Another aide to storytelling would be the ability to be able to control how full or empty the town(s) is(are). Maybe I want a town packed with Sims or a town with no sims but my own. Also, the ability to control the max and minimum number of sims allowed in a household. I realize some computers might not be able to handle it but allowing the option for those whose computers can would be nice. I like large households with 12+ sims and 3+ pets personally. Some more things that would also help would be story progression but with the option being able to select, maybe check off, which houses don't progress without the player's input (like having a baby or taking on a pet). More of a variety of different towns/cities to add to immersion and a variety of sims around to interact with and places for our sims to visit, vacation, and/or work at. The quiz in CAS you can take to get your sims more established is nice but what would be better is being able to outright set skills, finances, jobs and job levels in CAS because not everyone wants to start at the beginning and the quiz may not hit the exact mark for us, and not every player can or does use mods to edit those things.
More meaningful interactions and more relationship allowances or disallowances. Like letting us have the option to, on behalf of our sims, pick or list who's allowed to treat their home as home. Picking who's allowed to take care of that sims kids as if they're their own. Grandma calling and saying she'd like to take her grandkids for the summer. If someone makes a sim angry, maybe they can ban them from their house. Being able to have sims care for other sims feeling under the weather.
One more thing I can think of is for you guys to have a broader scope than just what's popular or in now. Not everyone want to play in modern day 2014-2021, variety on that front would be nice too. Maybe someone wants immerse themselves in an 80's game or the Dark Ages, but some of the things our sims are stuck with make that hard, like cellphones for example. And I know you don't want this to be a list of desired features but I will say that sometimes having a variety of options helps add more depth for more players.
Howdy. I'm pretty happy with The Sims 4. I think you guys do a good job. That said, I only own about 1/3 of the available DLC, as a lot of it doesn't appeal to me personally, but I appreciate the hard work that goes into the packs, they're always interesting and beautiful, even if I don't want the things those packs offer in my game.
I hadn't played The Sims for years because I was in a committed relationship with The Elder Scrolls, and they didn't want me seeing other games, but they're taking some time to figure things out right now.
Anyway, a passionate subject around these parts is that there seems to be fewer options for male sims. Men could use more hobbies and CAS stuff. Oh, also BODY HAIR (that one is for a friend ). He knows who he is.
I would absolutely understand if you don't want to release a “Man Pack”. Too many people would complain about that, but a “Garage Pack” would work and could include any number of “Man Things” like:
Bands (Garage bands! Garages are often a place for gear storage for working musicians. This one is my top vote for sure.)
Cars (If not functional, as we really don’t need functional cars in this game, ones we could restore would be cool. Restoration is often performed in a garage. So junk cars, but other junk would be rad too. I mean, there is handiness, but I guess I think of it as something different. I know a lot of dudes who are gearheads and love working on things like cars and music gear, but I don't know a single dude who is into woodworking. So yeah, more of a Restoration hobby is more what I would like to see I guess. Maybe the ability to restore more of the stuff you find dumpster diving or stuff burned up in a fire.)
Bars (A lot of people convert their garages into bars, so pool tables and pinball machines! Beer crafting could be a fun hobby.)
Sports equipment (often stored in garages. I would love to see more sports representation. At least some decorations. Signed baseballs, trophies from their high school glory days, etc.)
Yard working gear (often stored in garages)
Model building (often done in garages, guys who like working on big cars often like putting tiny ones together too)
Mechanic career
Also, a Rock, Classic Rock, or Arena Rock radio station to blast in their driveways on a hot day.
AND FOR THE LOVE OF LLAMAS, DON'T FORGET THE BODY HAIR!
Those are all things often mostly associated with men, but they don’t exclude women. At least not the cool chicks, and as an Outlaw Woman, I absolutely approve.
It’s always nice to see game developers take an interest in community ideas and improvements. I think a lot of things that can improve the game have already been stated. Story Progression for townies, going in and getting out of debt, burglars, making the illness in Get to Work more dangerous, more negative traits and the like.
But the ability to adopt occult babies/toddlers/children would be amazing and add a level of depth to the game. Having to renovate the home or learn a new skill to properly take care of a child would be interesting. Though this should absolutely be able to be toggled off so that people who don’t want to play with occult’s don’t have to deal with it.
Lot challenges were an amazing addition to the game. Expanding on to that to make neighborhood challenges would be even better.
Random events chance cards that add a level of mystery or fun to the game. Maybe children of small animals being left of doorsteps. (In my opinion the phone calls that game with Eco Lifestyle were a step in the right direction).
The game just feels really passive. Bad things don’t just happen, you have to make them happen; and when they do occur you know exactly how the sim will react. I think what is really missing from the game is pure random chaos.
Personally, I'm not really interested in more 'challenge' necessarily. I play for escape and even some of the (admittedly limited) challenge that is already in the games gets a bit tedious at times. I used to hate some of the more challenging aspects (like burglars) in the older versions, but wouldn't mind their inclusion for those who do enjoy them, so long as you can opt out (or tie it into the new lot challenges).
Depth, on the other hand, I would like to see some work on.
I miss when babies used to be more than glorified objects. Right now, babies pretty much get turned immediately into toddlers, because they aren't really fun or interesting.
Teens need some distinction from YAs. Honestly, most of the time I just age them straight to YA as soon as they have an A in high school (usually a day or two max), because I have no real incentive to keep them a teen. Some teen-specific aspirations similar to those that children have might help.
It would also be nice if I didn't feel like goldfish were pitying my Sims' lack of long-term memory.
For example: I have an immortal Sim who has had dozens of babies over his lifetime (including several aliens), so when he gets abducted and 'pollinated' it would be nice to have new moodlets that acknowledge this has happened before rather than him always acting shocked and not understanding what this 'weird weight gain' is. 'Hon, this is number 44, you know *exactly* what this is!'
A bit of common sense and self-preservation would be nice, as well. Granted, this tends to come into play more once you start getting into packs ('Don't go stargazing in a storm!' 'You're a vampire, don't stand in the sun and play with your phone!'), but it starts with the basics ('You have no handiness skill, don't go messing with electronics!').
Thank you for giving us the chance to voice our wishes.
First, I would like to see better Romantic Interactions,(similar to sims 2). I feel this would add so much to the overall gameplay.
I would like to see Family memories. Something that would connect the family, I believe this is very much needed in Sims 4. My Sims travel with family and act like they don't even know each other.
Make a change to teenagers, they are almost the same as Young Adults. This has been needed in the Sims 4.
Children to be allowed to ride bikes. In reality children go on bike rides with teens and adults.
Babies need to become a part of the family. This would add so much to the family gameplay.
We need Wishes and Fears, This would add so much to the game because no matter what traits they have in the end they all just act the same as every other Sim.
We need to be able to choose gender preference. This way they wouldn't always be choosing what ever Sim is in front of them.
We need so very badly Story Progression. This would change the overall way the Sims 4 is right now, it would give it that boost it really needs.
We need a different kind of Aspirations. It is way too easy to complete the Aspirations now. This would add to a better gameplay experience.
We need better Traits, I believe we need a better variety of traits be able to create unique sims, not just the same every day ones.
Social events need a reboot. When inviting sims to a social event there needs to be the whole families' households relationship panel, not just the host's panel of relationships. This problem is shown when trying to plan a toddler playdate and the sim host does not know her toddler's friends thus they don't show up in the invitation panel. It would be fun to see relatives of the family show up in the panel even though they have never met, this would enable sims to invite them and meet rather than hunting them down. And goal events are nice but become repetitive with the same tasks at each event you throw. I would like to see more goal tasks added. This would give a good level of depth to the gameplay.
Firstly, thank you for this opportunity. I am a rotational player that has always used my sims reactions and unexpected misfortunes to guide my gameplay. This has become difficult because of the lack of consequences and unexpected misfortunes.
There are no surprises any more. Even features in game, such as vampires sneaking in to houses to feed or unexpected alien abductions resulting in pregnancy seem to be getting toned down or removed completely. These are fun quirky things I love about this game.
Other features, such as the illness system are so mild you can ignore them and nothing happens. We have a hospital in game that could be used for so much more as well as the herbalist skill that could be used to create cures and depending on skill level could lead to a cure or a death. At the very least there should be some consequence for ignoring the illness.
Same applies to features such as the cow plant - I've never had a sim die from that unless I direct them to, lightning strikes, electrocution, drowning, all so mild they make no impact to my game. We even have a pond we can stock with piranhas and sharks and still no surprises.
Fires have become just an annoying event because of how quickly sims react. We have fire-fighters now and they never get a chance to arrive. In The Sims 2 if my sim didn't have a fire alarm their house could become engulfed in flames which meant a lot of hard work to clean the place up and replace the lost items plus their was a chance somesim could die - even a visitor.
Events such as natural disasters (we have earthquakes and volcanoes in game but they don't affect anything), burglars, unexpected dismissals from work, chance cards that can remove family funds not just add to them and that have some degree of surprise would all help, as well as making the other features, some I have already mentioned, have more impact on sims lives.
Again in The Sims 2 teens could run away and sneak out. There was drama in families. Now I have to try so hard to stop my kids and teens being perfect. I can even leave toddlers pretty much to fend for themselves and they still get all the skill required to earn the perfect toddler trait. Perfect is boring especially when every family is the same.
As things are, the only challenge for me is making my sims and their families feel like individuals. The likes and dislikes have definitely helped, the lifestyles not so much, as the same ones seems to trigger first. All a sim has to do is interact with family members and the 'people person' triggers. They just have to visit their friend or go to the local park a few times and they get the 'frequent traveller'. I still like this system, just hate how much I have to micromanage my sims to get a variety. Micromanaging is frustrating but necessary if I want my sims to be individuals because they all choose to do exactly the same thing when left to their own devices, like dance - even when they hate dancing.
Sims themselves lack depth. Their reactions to their environment and each other are all the same. Trying to find my sim a partner or friends is so hard simply because there is nothing to guide me. Sure, I can choose any sim but I'd love some input from my sim. I'd also like the bad emotions to be stronger, like if they catch their partner cheating they should not be ok to sleep in the same bed. They should be ANGRY! Same when a sim they are close to dies - the sad emotion should cycle to the front of their emotions frequently. Sure, they should experience other emotions on the path to healing but the sad emotion should be the strongest especially at the start.
I realise not all players want the same thing and maybe the answer could be using the lot trait system to implement some things and/or having the ability to turn features off in game options.
Once again, thank you for letting me share my views. I love this game with all my heart - have since The Sims 1. The freedom it gives me to explore different storylines though the lives of my sims is my creative outlet but I like having a few curve balls to keep things interesting. While utopia sounds inviting, in the world of the sims it's just boring. Bring on the spice.
I would like to see more interactions for children. Playing tag was eliminated and I do not understand why. Bring back the babies we had in Sims 3 when we could do something with them. I skip the entire baby stage and age the children up to toddler as soon as they are born because babies in Sims 4 are boring. I do not age the children up to teens because they look exactly as the adults do and it is very difficult to tell who is an adult and who is a teen. In previous versions that was not the case and I aged them up when I was ready to all the time. I am currently playing a family that I created three years ago, aging is turned off and I age them when I am ready. I am happy with this family, but I feel limited because I hate the way teens look when they age up.
From day one with the first Sims I always felt the clock moved too fast. I have all of the expansion, stuff, and game packs as well as all of the kits. There is so much my Sims could do but they can't because time goes too quickly.
Give us a pack such as Free Time in the Sims 2.
I would like to see more Vacation worlds with more things to do while there. The Sims 3 World Adventures was great and something like that would be fantastic. I want to do more than swim and fish when going on vacation. Jungle Adventure was good and I still go there but it gets old.
I know that this is not a place to voice complaints and this isn't a complaint, just an observation. If one Sim leaves the lot or the town being played and the other Sims in the household are given tasks to complete, those tasks are never completed. In previous versions of the game they were. Now when I have one member of the family leave the lot, the others forget about what I want them to do and do whatever they feel like doing. The result of that is that I don't leave the lot unless the others are at school/work. The I rush through what I want that One Sim to do elsewhere many times not having the time to complete what I set off to do and I am forced to bring that one Sim is home before everyone else runs amok. It is very frustrating because again, there isn't enough time to complete the things I want to do.
I feel that as an adult player of this game (I've been playing since Sims 1) that my voice does not count. I have read some of the comments here and many of the ideas are great. I play this game to escape the horrors of the world that we live in now. I don't want to deal with catastrophic events, hate, illness or death because I have seen enough of that in real life. I have created a world where there is none of that. I delete holidays such as Brawl day from the calendar because it doesn't fit in with the world that I have created. I understand that some people want these things, and that is ok as long as there is a way to turn them off like we can with the calendar or in the options menu. You should listen to All of the players of this game, not just the young ones and you should consider that not all players enjoy the horrific or just plain silly and ridiculous aspects of the game. Older, adults play the game too and you are losing these players for this reason, Our voice counts as much as anyone else's.
Hi! Things that i look forward in the sims 4 TRAITS: More traits that can improve gameplay and maybe another trait slot I would like negative traits like:Murderer and a career for this BUT when killing someone i would like it to be blurred like when peeing(for kids)
CAREER: More freelance careers or at least add one more Its kinda boring especially when you only have one sim
REALISTIC SICKNESS: Like for women periods or maybe chicken pox Ex of sickness, Chicken Pox Vomiting(If have vegetarian trait) P00ping when ate a dairy thing(could make a trait for this like for vegetarians)
MORE BOYS AND KIDS GAMEPLAY: When playing I see that boys don't have anything for gameplay so I want more for boys I also want more gameplay for kids especially babies or for toddlers
> @Oceanikx said: > Hi! > Things that i look forward in the sims 4 > TRAITS: > More traits that can improve gameplay and maybe another trait slot > I would like negative traits like:Murderer and a career for this BUT when killing someone i would like it to be blurred like when peeing(for kids) > > CAREER: > More freelance careers or at least add one more > Its kinda boring especially when you only have one sim > > REALISTIC SICKNESS: > Like for women periods or maybe chicken pox > Ex of sickness, > Chicken Pox > Vomiting(If have vegetarian trait) > P00ping when ate a dairy thing(could make a trait for this like for vegetarians) > > MORE BOYS AND KIDS GAMEPLAY: > When playing I see that boys don't have anything for gameplay so I want more for boys > I also want more gameplay for kids especially babies or for toddlers
EVENTS: More events like best painting event and you can get a reward and stuff
[list] [*] A Create a World Tool. Making own worlds and editing existing ones is a basic feature since the Sims 2. Without one we will lose all, especially the day when the game is not developed any longer and has to stand on its own feet.
[*] Social autonomy. Yes we need more drama, random events, evil and mean stuff etc but all of this is useless without social autonomy. The sims have to start the drama on their own. Like people with a personality. At the moment they are just pupets and we have to force them to do anything.
[*] basic every day animations. Things like lying on the couch to read or sitting on the floor to chat
[*] Game features have to be available in all worlds. We still don't have stray pets in all worlds. And this is just an excample. That is a no go. Every world is boring at the end because it has just this one game feature. And if you don't want to give it to us then give us a CAW tool so we can add it ourselves.
[*] A bunch of other small things: I want the missing supernaturals from the previous games. Horses even if the worlds are not open because they are members of my family and i don't want to play the next generation of this familys without my horses. Fully CAStable and flyable Dragon Pets, Kyuubis and Unicorns.
I love the Sims 4. I have been playing from the very beginning of Sims. However, no matter which version I played (except for Sims 1), I found myself falling deeper into boredom as each Sim minute passed. The gameplay was dull and redundant. I built a house for my Sims - they had kids - they grew old - they died. I found myself building homes and starting new families over and over.. I never reached the second generation. I was too bored to even try. Today, the gameplay is awesome - thanks to all the great modders and creators. Cooking is great now - SCCO, icemunmun, Oni and many more - they make cooking great. My Sims go to the dentist, and they come home with prescriptions. Bad hygiene or not brushing their teeth have consequences now. My Sims go to the doctor, and they come home with prescriptions, too. My Sims mow their lawns and iron their clothes. My Sims can hold eulogies and funerals for their deceased loved ones. I no longer use motherlode - why should I when my Sims can go to the bank, make loans, and have their own accounts. Cottage Living was almost an 8 for me, but it lacks so much: hunting (littlbowbub has this and it is OMG awesome). Icemunmun's canning is so much better than the canning offered in Cottage Living. The jams are already there - but why can't my Sim grab some bread and spread some apple jam on it to make a jam sandwich? "Eat jam" with a spoon is the best that Sims can offer? Get help from the modders and creators.. their ideas make Sims 4 great.
I miss some of the features from Sims 2 that a lot of people have mentioned ( school bus picking up kids, carpool, wants/fears, burglars) I would love to see more in-depth game play with babies, teens in their every day HS life, I miss the private schools and the interview process to get them in.
Bring back cars as well and I would love to be able to explore each world and walk around without having to sit through a loading screen. Sleepovers for sims, movie theaters which would be an awesome job in "Get to work" for teens especially. High school graduations perhaps? Aging up from a baby to a toddler, fine...but from a toddler straight to a kid? I would love to see something a little more in between.
I Love the "young adult" feature. Sims teaching their kids how to ride a bike, tie their shoes, more vacation options and realistic Summer vacations where kid and teen Sims do not go to school.
If cars aren't an option, maybe an option like "Uber" for Sims to get around? That would be so cool. A shopping mall or grocery store that could also be added to "Get to work" which creates businesses for Sims to purchase and/or jobs for teens and adults per say.
When Sims get divorced I would love to have the option of who gets the kids and realistic co-parenting situations such as; one weekend the dad gets the kids and so on and so fourth. Being able to ground the kids, take away their phones, no TV or games etc..
Thank you for letting us provide some ideas and feedback.
Hello!
I would like to see more warmth brought to the game through sim to sim interactions. Let children play tag, soccer, go bike riding with friends/family, have sleepovers. Have family game nights with board games.
Some sort of romance/attraction system. Better functioning weddings and other grand type events like proms, family reunions, etc. Extended family interactions.
I would like an option for sim kids to be homeschooled or learn virtually so my sims can travel without failing.
Neighborhood social events/block parties.
Game progression, I would like Townes to get married, have kids, pursue jobs etc. I would like to be invited to weddings and birthday parties for townie friends.
Create a world tool
Sul Sul, Sims team! Builder here and a big complaint I've had and have heard has been that there are a lot of build mode items/effects that are very hard to test in build mode (EG: water features, the new pond animals, things like that). Especially for public lots it can be hard to know what things will look like in live mode without dragging a sim onto lot. A live mode button without a controlled sim or a test sim that populates for public lots would be hugely beneficial for builders.
Consequences for sure need to be implemented in game. This is a life simulation game, life is random and sometimes bad things happen that you have to work around. Here are some that can be added in game and how.
-sims with traits having more consequences (example, clumsy sim going to work and accidentally breaking something important and you having to pay right then or get fired or erratic sim if not being monitored by player with autonomy full, might go jump in a pool in the freezing cold (with seasons) and die or an evil spell caster sim (realm of magic) randomly zip zapping another sim.
-teen dropping out of school and being limited in what careers they would have access to as an adult (ex. A dropout student wouldn’t be going into the astronaut career) and maybe having to get back on track through a program such as a GED program but even then not having as many options as a fully graduated student would have. (I thought of this because sims who go to university can get a higher paying job upon completion and players can already choose not to send a teen to school and have them do poorly in school, so why not have a consequence for it?)
-Making relationships and friendships in game are waaaaaay too easy. Why can my sims just meet a sim, become best friends, woohoo, propose, get married, try for baby, and have a child in the span of less than 5 sim days and the only reason it takes that long is because it takes your sims 3 sim days in order to have the baby. I think that preferences would help make this aspect more challenging. Having turn on/offs, making having similar or opposing likes/dislikes mean something to the NPCs and your sims, etc.
-We need NPC progression and lore. It’s hard trying to just make up everything in game. Sometimes I don’t want to control everything that happens. (Oh, you liked your once single neighbor and planned on starting a life with him? Well too bad, he’s now married to someone else and has 3 kids.) Randomness would make the game more challenging. You would have to adapt to the changing world around you.
-We need lifetime goals. The aspirations are not enough. They are little tutorials in order to introduce a new skill or pack but those are not anything to impact gameplay. We need an objective sometimes. Something to work towards.
-I think Karma points and burglars in sims 3 was a great idea. If you did bad things in Sims 3, you would get bad karma. Meteors would rain down on your house and set things on fire. It made your actions in game matter. Maybe something like that could happen again in sims 4
-Also in sims 3 whenever you had a toddler that you didn’t take the time out to make sure all of their skills were met, they would age up with a random trait that you didn’t get to pick. That was another example of consequences in game that gave the game its depth. It’s like a “develop a trait over time” system or “off of their experiences.”
-Another thing in sims 4 is that you can make a lot of money in game but there’s nothing to spend that money on. In sims 3, you could become partners with local businesses and then work up to buying them out and completely owning them for yourself. Yeah we have it were you can buy multiple businesses in sims 4 if you have the get to work expansion but even then to start, you only have to pay for the lot price. You could add house insurance, life insurance, renters insurance, a phone bill that we could pay for and it could add gameplay and a reason to pay more money. It could be factored in with bills
-We should have an application process for jobs. It would work kind of how the applying for universities process works. You would be qualified based on skill set. If you have a high painting skill and cooking skill, I wouldn’t hire you to come work for the Athletic career and therefore you wouldn’t qualify for that job position unless you had at least level 2-3 fitness skill. It would be an equivalent to experience in a way.
-Everything is too easy in game. It’s too easy to master skills, it’s too easy to complete aspirations, it’s too easy to work your way up through a career, etc… We like a challenge. That is not challenging.
-The emotion system needs to have a memory system added to it. It’s hard to remember life changing events when we have an emotional buff that goes away after about 12 hours after you just married the love of your life. It doesn’t impact gameplay. They don’t add anything to the sims. They have emotions but emotions are fleeting. And the emotion system in game is not that realistic. Again this is a life simulation game. It’s meant to simulate life. Not everyone is happy every day, all day. Sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you have a bad day. Sometimes you just don’t feel like being happy especially if a loved one just died in front of your eyes. Why does a nicely decorated house and a good meal overshadow that?
As far as Depth in base game I think for 1, the little details such as a school bus picking up your kids for school in the morning, or a car picking up your sims for work need to come back. That was a detail that made it feel real. Now sims just disappear off lots and it just really takes away from the game.
-The different life stages need an overhaul. Babies are pure objects, toddlers and kids need more things to do, and teens are basically adults. Where is the sneaking out past curfew, graduation, prom? The things that gave them their depth? The things that made them teens?
-we need more traits for our sims, we need something that better defines them. The core value system of the sims 2 was a good system. The sims based everything they did off of those core value. (Outgoing versus shy, lazy versus active, etc.) you could tell what kind of sim you had from the way they interacted with others down to the way they got out of the bed in the mornings.)
-The game has lost the details. Details add depth.
These were some of my concerns. Thank you for listening and allowing the community to voice their opinions. Please take these into consideration. We love the game. We want to see it thrive. Most of us are long-term players of the Sims and we want this game to be the best it can be.
Romance & jealousy I wish more depth to the relationships between the sims. Now married sims are easily flirting with the rest sims. Jealousy happens very rarely. If a celebrity sim is cheating to his spouse in front of all paparazzi, they're are just excited and show approval. There is no damage to reputation. To cause jealousy in one household you need to send a person to see what happens in the bedroom and even then, sometimes sims stand showing no reaction. It doesn't impact sims behavior. Right after seeing cheating sims are kissing autonomously. Also the angry interactions should be bound to what happened between the sims.
Also dates are very repetitive, the same tasks every time. I wish more variety.
Also there's no impact if a sim is pregnant from a lover. A spouse is still happy about a new born. I wish there was an option to reveal that it's not their baby with some reaction and consequences. Also miscarriage should be back. Abortion and teen pregnancy are also important topics.
Careers are too easy It's also too easy to reach the peak in the career after graduation from university. I wish there were some extra levels (on top of standard ten) for the careers. Also the active careers, such as doctor, detective are very repetitive and from level 5 it's getting very boring. I wish more depth there because doctor is always my favourite career.
Babies, toddlers, teens It's also unrealistic that toddlers are completely independant from the parents. They can grab food, can learn everything by themselves.
Babies and teens are very boring to play with. No uniqueness to the teen life stage.
Cats & dogs There's no motivation to teach pets tricks. There are no competitions, exhibitions where you could show a Pet. No careers for pets. They also can't become celebrities. In the end playing with them is quite boring.
Fame It's almost not possible to become famous just by doing a career in other careers, e.g., musician, journalist, etc.
From poor to rich There should be some challenges that would allow sims to start with very bad living conditions and then gradusllu improve their living standards. Otherwise it's not interesting. All sims are always fine.
Hiya devs! *Waves* Thank you so much for continuing to engage with us here on the forums. It really means a lot.
So. Depth and Challenge. Well, I think that the Sims 4, unfortunately, started off on the wrong foot when it went the "optimistic" route. This began the game in a "winning" state with Sims easily falling into the Happy emotion without any effort from the player. I've noticed that if I use a cheat to fill my Sim's needs, the selection is "Make Happy". But the thing is, I don't want to make them happy, I just want to make them content. Or "Fine", as the case may be. So I strongly feel that having full needs should only put the Sims in a state of "Fine", not "Happy". This puts them in a neutral state, ready to go forth into the world to have their emotions buffed or debuffed accordingly.
On that note, the emotions system still feels unbalanced. I think it has a lot to do with having extra "positive" emotions like Focused, Inspired, Energetic, etc., that pop up on a regular basis, just from object use, autonomy, and environment. Sims are always bombarded with these positive emotional buffs and then on top of it, they boost the Sim's Happiness. It's quite a dogpile of positivity that takes the actual "game" part out of the game and makes it feel like it just runs itself on Easy mode. Because, to be honest, it does. It would be nice to see an Angry yet Energetic Sim, jogging off his frustrations, or a Sad, yet Inspired Sim playing a melancholy tune on the piano or writing a tragic tale.
It often feels like the careful balance that existed in past games is gone, in favor of what feels like the coddling of the player. Sims 4 has the sensation of holding our hands throughout our gameplay, reassuring us that nothing bad is ever really going to happen, that our Sims are forever destined to have an eventual smile. And don't get me wrong, safe spaces are great in real life, but this is a video game. It's supposed to challenge us. Maybe those filler emotions should not be buffed by Happiness at all. Maybe that Decoration buff should only activate to materialistic Sims or be effective once a day. Maybe eating a good meal should only buff Foodie or Glutton Sims into Happiness and just Fine for everyone else. Maybe we need more "negative" filler emotions; temporary states of lethargy, unhappiness or anxiety. Or maybe we need it to be less of a roller coaster of flitting emotions altogether and focused more on locking in on the major spectrum in relation to important events like birth, death, marriage, first woohoo, etc. (and maybe have special event memories akin to Memories in Sims 2 that Sims will think about throughout their lives, both good and bad?) I really feel that the emotion system as it is is a major catalyst in the unbalance and feeling of "Easy Mode". They need to feel more genuine to the Sim's life experiences and what they should be feeling.
I would like to take a moment to strongly recommend watching some gameplay videos of Sims 2 and how that iteration balanced the game and challenged the player. Sims 2 keeps you alert, sometimes on the edge of your seat, clicking around and trying to make sure your Sim is doing okay, getting what they want, meeting their needs, and fulfilling their Aspiration. Please take a look at it, or play it a bit if you get a chance, to see where some of the roots of The Sims came from and what made the game so relatable and engaging and special to so many people. And, of course, challenging. Sims reacted strongly to negative stimuli and it would take some time for them to recover from it. And, if their life needs weren't being met for their chosen Aspiration, they could go into a full blown meltdown. The player would have to put more effort into getting the poor Sim back on track.
Speaking of Aspirations, I'd like to address some of the important mechanics that still, seven years later, feel rather incomplete or just wonky; Traits, Whims, Aspirations, Relationships, Fears. These things all should work together in a cohesive system, connecting and communicating so that each Sim is driven by something specific to them, and each of their choices (or rather, the player's) will effect the outcome of their lives, whether positive or negative. Sims in TS4 need all the individuality they can get because the emotions system has a tendency to make them feel rather samey.
Traits - A Trait should be extremely important to the behaviors of the Sim. It should have a hand in dictating what makes a Sim actually happy or unhappy and influence their emotions, activities, and reactions. It should also have a hand in driving the Sim's Whims. Sims should also have thought bubbles that relay to us what they want, or how they think about something, according to their Traits. Maybe there should be more animations that are Trait specific. Visuals have a way of adding depth that can help tell a better story.
Whims - Why were Whims abandoned? They bridge the communication between the Sim and the player. Please consider an overhaul of the Whims system and have them influenced by a Sim's traits and experiences. Whims, like the emotions, have always felt generic and shared by all Sims instead of exhibiting the personality and wants and desires derived from the Sim's Traits and Aspiration.
Aspirations - This system has really felt like a downgrade from what Aspirations used to be. They are quick and easy and have the feel of game tutorials. To be honest, I don't even pay attention to them most of the time because they don't really have a connection to the Sim they belong to and don't influence them. I think that what we need is a new kind of Aspiration, a Lifetime Aspiration, or Long Term Goal, or Driving Force. This should be new and separate from the existing Aspirations but chosen (maybe optionally?) in CAS. These Lifetime Goals should be something difficult to change (maybe only can be changed when a Sim ages up or a lifetime event happens like births, deaths, etc and a popup could give an option to change it.) This Aspiration should also contribute to driving a Sim's Whims but be something more difficult to attain. It could be for the Sim to have 15 grandchildren before they die (Large Family Lifetime Aspiration) or to have mastered 5 career paths (Successful Lifetime Aspiration) or to have prepared every food dish in the game and unlocked the Grilled Cheese Aspiration (Cultured Foodie Lifetime Aspiration) or to have travelled every year of their life and thoroughly explored all vacation worlds including been to Sixam (Well-Travelled Lifetime Aspiration, maybe this one is unlockable if you own all of the travel packs) or completing 20 full collections (Hoarder Lifetime Aspiration) or making and keeping 50 friends at once (Social Butterfly Lifetime Aspiration) etc. Maybe there could be some for Occults or for Sims who want to track down all Occults or to have been all Occults and reverted back to human in the end. I like the idea of some unlockable special Lifetime Aspirations depending on owning specific packs so that it creates more cohesion between them and makes owning them more valuable.
Relationships - We need a romance system of some sort. Sims should have partner preferences, things that turn them on and off and chemistry. Maybe the Traits should all have a hidden compatible/incompatible system to make it easier/harder for Sims to "hook up". For example, a Lazy Sim who dates a Fitness Sim might have some negative points to hit it off, but if their other two Traits are compatible, they might be okay. So a Sim couple could have up to three compatibility points. Maybe they could even get more if they had similar Likes and Dislikes. And if they aren't compatible, it wouldn't be impossible to hook them up, but it would definitely be more challenging. Maybe a -1 still had a chance but a -3 would have the Sims repelled by each other. And some Traits could just be more neutral. I also think we need a way to select more relationship types in CAS like "dating", "divorced", "grandparent", "stepchild", "frenemy", "enemy", "best friend", etc. so the Sims can begin with some type of relationship score. And, again, we could use to have the happy emotions dialed down when enemies come into play. It's very difficult to make enemy Sims in this game because they just end up talking and smiling and hugging on their own. This could use some updating. I'd love to see the return of the vindictive Sim who sneaks in your yard to knock over your trash barrel, steal your newspaper (or mail maybe), or leave a flaming pile of poop on your front doorstep. Maybe they could send angry texts or post about you on social media.
Fears (and Flaws) - Now that we have a Scared emotion (thank you so much! ) I'd really like to see some Fears that players could select. I'd even like to expand this into including Flaws. The Sims Medieval had a Fatal Flaw that could be selected in character creation and I think that's one of the best things I've ever seen. Fears and Flaws could be very specific, like Fear of the Ocean, Fear of Bugs, Fear of Failure, Fear of Vampires, or Hates Cats, Talks Too Much, Rude, Shy, Oversensitive, No Sense of Humor, Online Troll,... I'd just really like to see more "negative" Traits. Or, if we had a Fears and Phobias system, maybe there could be tiers as to just how much the fears would influence the Sims and maybe different categories of fears. If they were a 1-3 scale, the Sim would be Tense on a 1 when confronted with their fear, but on a 3 they would go into a panic. I feel like the scale system really works in the games to make Sims feel different from each other. (Again, I'll throw a nod to Sims 2 and the character creation Trait scales.) I'd also like to see more things tweaked to work with the Scared emotion like Vampires feeding without permission and Spellcasters causing fear when they cast aggressive spells. It's kind of depressing when you play an evil Occult who does something vile to get a reaction and no one cares.
Finally, I want to just say that Sims need obstacles. Life shouldn't come easy because that's just not believable or relatable. Maybe careers could carry some random chances for failure now and then, or chance cards that could get them demoted or fired. People who don't want to take the risks could just X out of the chance card and not answer it. It's kind of strange that Sims just get whatever job they want and are destined for inevitable success. New careers should have some challenges in them. For example, the Influencer career should have challenges like, someone starts trolling them or doxing and they have to deal with it or someone gets offended by their latest vlog, and they lose a bunch of followers and have to do damage control. Every career should come with its own unique challenges to overcome. The success in the end will feel more like an accomplishment.
Sims shouldn't be making friends with everyone around them. In past games, making friends was part of the challenge of the game. Let the player initiate the discussions. It would also help to lessen the crazy unwanted spam of calls and texts from random Sims we don't even care about. On that note, I'd also like a way to completely turn off the phone so we get zero notifications. I feel like it's so aggressive now that it's hindering the gameplay and making me frustrated, especially when I play large households. If we could turn off the phones, that could even lend some challenge in itself, to have to seek out other Sims or activities or find where the action is and do things for ourselves. Sometimes it feels like the game is trying to offer too much to me by spamming these random calls all the time. Again, it feels like the game is parenting and leading me instead of just letting me explore with the possibility of failure. It's trying to throw success at me all the time.
Anyway, I hope I was able to explain things well enough. I just got back from an exhausting (but wonderful) hiking vacation and I'm so tired but I really wanted to add my input to this thread. I love to brainstorm and I always have a lot of ideas for what I'd like to see in the game so anytime you guys want feedback or input, I'm happy to discuss.
I think having more distinct cultures for different worlds would increase depth, if not necessarily challenge. I like having sims live in Sulani because the world behavior feels a little different with neighbors bringing (distinct!) food and helping with fires, etc. I’ve liked the errand aspect of Cottage Living because it does something similar. Perhaps neighbors living in Oasis Springs could behave a bit differently than the ones in Willow Creek (outside of NAPS, of course). The scenery and light and sound design are always lovely and go a long way toward making a new world feel immersive, but I’ve really enjoyed the worlds where the behavior of other sims in that world contributed to that feeling as well.
My first idea in order to add depth is to add some friction in travelling. Being able to travel from San Myshuno to Sulani with a few clicks breaks my immersion. I would like us to be able to go to different lots in the same neighborhood in the same way, but we might need something like a car to go long distances, or airports and airplanes when we're travelling to somewhere very far away and I would like time to pass while we are travelling. Instead of having airports your sim can get into their car/a taxi and drive to the edge of the map (like in The Sims 3) where they'll disappear and you can have a different loading screen with a plane somewhere in the animation. This would require the team to create a bit of a map of where each 'world' is located on our planet, so you can calculate time passed, and the price for the ticket per sim. If car animations are a bit tricky with all the different lots, I would be ok with the car teleporting to the nearest road like in The Sims 3, as long as there is an animation of the sim going into the car. I understand that some simmers might not like this added planning, so it would be great if you made it optional.
My second idea is for you guys to add more rabbit holes throughout the worlds. There are many different buildings that are just set dressing and our sim can't interact with them. I loved what you guys did with the shops in Henford-on-Bagley where you can window shop, but I had hoped that it would've been taken a little bit further where our sims could disappear into them and UI will come up to let you purchase things, like the interface we get when we press 'order' on the computer. I would absolutely love it if some of the set dressing in the worlds could be interacted with, and let your sims disappear into them. The most notable ones that I would love to see are the buildings around the festival place in Wakaba in Mount Komorebi, we should be able to shop in those. Another one is the train at Mount Komorebi. We can press the train station and see a 'Travel' option that costs us a few simoleons, which will trigger the same UI as pressing the 'M' key to travel, but we can only travel to other places in Mount Komorebi, and the sim will spawn just outside of the station rather than outside of the selected lot.
Thank you for listening to the community! I love The Sims 4, and I want it to be the best that it can be.
Hi. Just shortly - story progression would be great. Also option to set time speed in game - its weird if sim do few activities like have a breakfast or shower and half of the day is gone. Thnaks
Here's my thoughts on what is needed from the base game.
-An option to toggle weight gain off or on. The weight gain can be a very annoying feature since I often want to be able to focus more on things other than working out, and it's very annoying to have to either do unwanted activities or keep going back into CAS to try to bring my sim back to where I put them originally after so much work making them. People put a lot of care into creating their sims, so being unable to switch off this mechanic that constantly tries to alter their appearance is a real thorn in the player's side.
-Sims should eat much, much faster, and actually sit down to eat. My sims consistently eat while standing in front of the fridge, and take over an in-game hour to eat a simple meal. This is unrealistic as well as annoying. In the Sims 3, watching sims eat was actually fun! Why not bring that little bit of charm over to TS4?
-More CAS items for masculine sims. I know male fashion is trickier to work with, but there should be as much masculine stuff as there is feminine stuff.
-More personality traits. Three is too few. It feels like moods replaced personality, when it could have enhanced it instead. Sims don't feel very fleshed out.
-An attraction system would also help the sims feel more fleshed out.
-More likes and dislikes. 20 quickly starts to feel too limiting. People generally have strong feelings about way more than 20 things.
-Couples and spouses should cuddle while sleeping sometimes.
-Sim behaviour should be more realistic and true to their given traits. For example, I once made a sim who hated fitness, and he would keep hitting the treadmill every single time he drank a cup of coffee. And he really liked his coffee. It was just excessive and bizarre.
-And finally, please just fix any existing bugs. You do tend to have a bit of a bug problem.
All I have to be said is a proposal for changing a Sim with story in CAS. It’s a great feature but in my opinion it could be updated in more useful way. The survey that is supposed to creat a sim based on the player’s answers is a little bit inaccurate. In order to fix it and make it more custom I suggest to give the player all the opportunity to creat a Sim with story themselves! You can leave a survey for those type of players who prefer random. But you can also add a feature where a player can tap and adjust all the things in the way they want. For example, the player would be able to set the career, the level of career, two or tree skills, level of those skills, and budget. You can let player choose budget amount themselves or leave three different options (little, standard, a lot).
Hope that was useful and understandable.
P.S.: Another little suggestion to a changing of the CAS. You can add a feature to the CAS where player could change occult type of the already created Sim or for a Sim from the gallery.
Comments
1. Negative Consequences - The Sims 4 has few or very short termed consequences for bad decisions or negative behavior.
2. Because there is very little negative consequences there is very little real drama. Perhaps a tweak to reputations and relationships are in order
3. I would have much more inter-pack functionality, especially with past packs. For example if a Sims is practicing Yoga (Spa Day) and their dog (Cats & Dogs) is smart it could learn their own interpretation of the postures. Or you introduce a new pack and it is set in the Desert and a Spell caster goes to visit they could pick up a new spell by interacting with a local Spell-caster or buying a book
4. It would be nice to be able to set the climate and weather on each neighborhood individually so that each will be a unique experience. Don't be afraid to add some new weather if we have Seasons. Remember that inter-pack thing previously discussed.
New Weather
5. We have too few lots per neighborhood.
6. What happened to the cute new holiday decor items we used to get over the years as just a complimentary download? Ordinarily I'm fully understanding about how things require time and that is money but You don't have to do much but a small something is a perfect gesture of goodwill.
Here is a small suggestion list to get you started. It doesn't have to be at once but really.
7. Ambiance - What the game is lacking is a bit of ambiance. We have so many decorative items that have no function. At the very least bring back or newly add these ambiance attributes
Sound
Visuals
8. Emotions that make sense.
9. Can we please set a menu with the caterers for parties. Them picking their own menu really is just sad.
10. More milestones for kids & Teens.
11. A few but not a lot of rabbit hole places mostly just for career places.
12. Don't be reticent to make Baking a Base Game Skill. Its been 6 years since its pack came out. You could overhaul cooking and baking and move all the baked good into one heading nobody will honestly complain. Tell you what you could offer a free Ice Cream Case and an Ice Cream Parlor Lot designation for all those Ice Cream Flavors to anyone who bought that pack as a goodwill trade for not getting bent out of shape over this. You might get a few complainers but far more people will praise you.
13. More opportunity for spending money to gain unique experiences. At some point there just seems a lack of ways to spend money.
This link has many ways we can spend some excess wealth. I contributed heavily to this thread. Please consider some of these ideas. https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17899887#Comment_17899887
14. You might wish to consider bringing back the Sims 2 carpool to give more flavor to careers.
15. Personally I would like to see more need to do errands and general tasks around the house
16. More wild animals where appropriate. Please make them have their unique sounds and actions. Don't make them a cat or dog that just looks like the animal. Im perfectly fine if you can only certain types in certain places. It really adds to the above mentioned ambiance.
17. Going back to negative consequences and drama. Please bring back the Burglar. Seriously you could make it awesome by have sophisticated burglar equipment for places like Museums and galleries, Jewelry stores, rich homes.
18. Please make the door and gate locks have an interaction that says Accessible to Household AND Employees. Which include Butlers, Nannies, Maids, Gardeners, Exterminators and hired party staff. Please have one that says the same but excludes pets.
19. Beds need a few additional UPGRADES or interactions
20. Restaurants need a few tweaks to be better
21. Diet choices should NOT be a personality Trait. Please make sure the Vegans are very vocal about their veganism
22. Body hair, More Tattoos, Fingernails & Toenails for CAS
23. Please make the water in Granite Falls swimmable
24. Memories
25. Skill Journal - The skill journal was a wonderful way to keep working with skills even after you've maxed one. The challenges gave great benefits and they were actually applicable to the skill use.
26. The Chemistry System - I think this is one of the ways you can actually add a form of challenge into the Sims 4 for relationships. I think allowing perimeters on the kinds of things that makes a Sim attracted to another Sim is a great idea and I love to have it back. Sims fall in love and get married far too easily. I say pick 3 turn ons and 1 turn off.
27. Interests this could figure into the Likes & Dislikes. Just a set of varying points that can be distributed amongst a few categories that can indicate how interested a Sim can be in various topics and activities. The points system would be from 0-4. O being not Interested 4 being Very Interested. It can help to make each Sim a bit more nuanced and can affect their Fun level during an activity, emotional state, job satisfaction depending if they work in a field they like, to visible boredom in a conversation with another Sim about a topic they don’t have any interest in.
Adult Sims Interests
Child Interests
Pet Interests
28. Refrigerators that have a "Put away all perishables" Flower Benches that do the same for all flowers
29. Jogging with the Dog(s)
30. I you do actually give us cars please allow us to set ownership of the vehicles. Also turn on radio
31. Fix all oversights, mistakes, and bugs efficiently and stop with the corporate non-apologies when you mess up. Take responsibility without excuses. If you make something that misses the mark or leave something obvious out, just add it in an update and let's all move on. Everyone makes mistakes and misjudges things sometimes. It takes a better person to effect change.
But back to depth. Personalities have always been my biggest issue. They still need a lot of work in Sims 4. Quite frankly, while I understand what you were aiming to do, I'd be fine if emotions were done away with completely since sims main personality seems to simply be emotional. There were a few improvements but sims are still pretty boring and act the same. There's also the over exaggerated expressions. Expressive is good but they come across as over dramatic and often times it's hard to take sims seriously even when they're angry or upset. Part of it is probably the art style but they tend to come across as childish to me. Something I always thought that would add to the depth of sims personalities is a combination of personality traits and personality points (or a personality scale) . The points could be a support system of sorts to the traits giving sims even more depth and help dictate what a sim is or isn't likely to do when no being played at the moment. This article gives an example of what I think points or a scale could consist of which are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Meanwhile personality traits could be the main attraction of sorts. Where the big five personality dimensions I listed apply for every sim on some level, not every smaller, so to speak, personality trait will apply to every sim and that's where even more uniqueness could shine through. But personality traits need to be beefed up. More of an overhaul rather than minor tweaks would be better. For example a few good examples @PrincipleOfEntropy actually has a few good post that I'll link here and here. Again, the previous games have some of the best examples of depth. I'm not saying copy and paste the formula, but take the formula and kick it up some notches. Improve upon it. Study the personality traits if need be to give a more in depth and a better experience. I also think there should be at least 5 or more personality trait slots from the start as well seeing as some personality traits aren't exactly traits yet take up a trait slot anyway. Things like lactose intolerant and vegetarian aren't really someone's personality and should fall under a different category than personality trait such as dietary needs.
An attraction system with turn ons and turn offs and to better handle on who sims are attracted to and who they aren't would also be nice. And I like that likes and dislikes are back and limitless but I feel there should be more detailed preferences which turn ons/offs could fall under as well. And the type of affect those preference could have could be something like being more likely to find a sim whose preferred hobby is basketball at a park or basketball court or a sim whose preferred hangout it the bar at a bar, or a sim who likes vacations to be seen in vacation worlds. Something along those lines instead of seeing the same sims randomly walk the streets of literally any world. I think something like that could decrease the chances of seeing the same sims no matter where you go because they'll be more likely to hang out in a locations they prefer if not at home, though there should be the slight chance they'll hang out elsewhere depending on their other likes and the preferences of people in their households.
Being able to create a broader arrange or relatives and others in CAS such as grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, half siblings, exes, enemies, friends, relatives. Also the ability to link newly created sims to already existing ones like say I create a sim but now I want to go back and create living or deceased family members and loved ones, enemies, etc to aide storytelling. Another aide to storytelling would be the ability to be able to control how full or empty the town(s) is(are). Maybe I want a town packed with Sims or a town with no sims but my own. Also, the ability to control the max and minimum number of sims allowed in a household. I realize some computers might not be able to handle it but allowing the option for those whose computers can would be nice. I like large households with 12+ sims and 3+ pets personally. Some more things that would also help would be story progression but with the option being able to select, maybe check off, which houses don't progress without the player's input (like having a baby or taking on a pet). More of a variety of different towns/cities to add to immersion and a variety of sims around to interact with and places for our sims to visit, vacation, and/or work at. The quiz in CAS you can take to get your sims more established is nice but what would be better is being able to outright set skills, finances, jobs and job levels in CAS because not everyone wants to start at the beginning and the quiz may not hit the exact mark for us, and not every player can or does use mods to edit those things.
More meaningful interactions and more relationship allowances or disallowances. Like letting us have the option to, on behalf of our sims, pick or list who's allowed to treat their home as home. Picking who's allowed to take care of that sims kids as if they're their own. Grandma calling and saying she'd like to take her grandkids for the summer. If someone makes a sim angry, maybe they can ban them from their house. Being able to have sims care for other sims feeling under the weather.
One more thing I can think of is for you guys to have a broader scope than just what's popular or in now. Not everyone want to play in modern day 2014-2021, variety on that front would be nice too. Maybe someone wants immerse themselves in an 80's game or the Dark Ages, but some of the things our sims are stuck with make that hard, like cellphones for example. And I know you don't want this to be a list of desired features but I will say that sometimes having a variety of options helps add more depth for more players.
I hadn't played The Sims for years because I was in a committed relationship with The Elder Scrolls, and they didn't want me seeing other games, but they're taking some time to figure things out right now.
Anyway, a passionate subject around these parts is that there seems to be fewer options for male sims. Men could use more hobbies and CAS stuff. Oh, also BODY HAIR (that one is for a friend
I would absolutely understand if you don't want to release a “Man Pack”. Too many people would complain about that, but a “Garage Pack” would work and could include any number of “Man Things” like:
Bands (Garage bands! Garages are often a place for gear storage for working musicians. This one is my top vote for sure.)
Cars (If not functional, as we really don’t need functional cars in this game, ones we could restore would be cool. Restoration is often performed in a garage. So junk cars, but other junk would be rad too. I mean, there is handiness, but I guess I think of it as something different. I know a lot of dudes who are gearheads and love working on things like cars and music gear, but I don't know a single dude who is into woodworking. So yeah, more of a Restoration hobby is more what I would like to see I guess. Maybe the ability to restore more of the stuff you find dumpster diving or stuff burned up in a fire.)
Bars (A lot of people convert their garages into bars, so pool tables and pinball machines! Beer crafting could be a fun hobby.)
Sports equipment (often stored in garages. I would love to see more sports representation. At least some decorations. Signed baseballs, trophies from their high school glory days, etc.)
Yard working gear (often stored in garages)
Model building (often done in garages, guys who like working on big cars often like putting tiny ones together too)
Mechanic career
Also, a Rock, Classic Rock, or Arena Rock radio station to blast in their driveways on a hot day.
AND FOR THE LOVE OF LLAMAS, DON'T FORGET THE BODY HAIR!
Those are all things often mostly associated with men, but they don’t exclude women. At least not the cool chicks, and as an Outlaw Woman, I absolutely approve.
Thank you for your time!
But the ability to adopt occult babies/toddlers/children would be amazing and add a level of depth to the game. Having to renovate the home or learn a new skill to properly take care of a child would be interesting. Though this should absolutely be able to be toggled off so that people who don’t want to play with occult’s don’t have to deal with it.
Lot challenges were an amazing addition to the game. Expanding on to that to make neighborhood challenges would be even better.
Random events chance cards that add a level of mystery or fun to the game. Maybe children of small animals being left of doorsteps. (In my opinion the phone calls that game with Eco Lifestyle were a step in the right direction).
The game just feels really passive. Bad things don’t just happen, you have to make them happen; and when they do occur you know exactly how the sim will react. I think what is really missing from the game is pure random chaos.
Depth, on the other hand, I would like to see some work on.
I miss when babies used to be more than glorified objects. Right now, babies pretty much get turned immediately into toddlers, because they aren't really fun or interesting.
Teens need some distinction from YAs. Honestly, most of the time I just age them straight to YA as soon as they have an A in high school (usually a day or two max), because I have no real incentive to keep them a teen. Some teen-specific aspirations similar to those that children have might help.
It would also be nice if I didn't feel like goldfish were pitying my Sims' lack of long-term memory.
For example: I have an immortal Sim who has had dozens of babies over his lifetime (including several aliens), so when he gets abducted and 'pollinated' it would be nice to have new moodlets that acknowledge this has happened before rather than him always acting shocked and not understanding what this 'weird weight gain' is. 'Hon, this is number 44, you know *exactly* what this is!'
A bit of common sense and self-preservation would be nice, as well. Granted, this tends to come into play more once you start getting into packs ('Don't go stargazing in a storm!' 'You're a vampire, don't stand in the sun and play with your phone!'), but it starts with the basics ('You have no handiness skill, don't go messing with electronics!').
First, I would like to see better Romantic Interactions,(similar to sims 2). I feel this would add so much to the overall gameplay.
I would like to see Family memories. Something that would connect the family, I believe this is very much needed in Sims 4. My Sims
travel with family and act like they don't even know each other.
Make a change to teenagers, they are almost the same as Young Adults. This has been needed in the Sims 4.
Children to be allowed to ride bikes. In reality children go on bike rides with teens and adults.
Babies need to become a part of the family. This would add so much to the family gameplay.
We need Wishes and Fears, This would add so much to the game because no matter what traits they have in the end they all just act the
same as every other Sim.
We need to be able to choose gender preference. This way they wouldn't always be choosing what ever Sim is in front of them.
We need so very badly Story Progression. This would change the overall way the Sims 4 is right now, it would give it that boost it really
needs.
We need a different kind of Aspirations. It is way too easy to complete the Aspirations now. This would add to a better gameplay experience.
We need better Traits, I believe we need a better variety of traits be able to create unique sims, not just the same every day ones.
I am a rotational player that has always used my sims reactions and unexpected misfortunes to guide my gameplay. This has become difficult because of the lack of consequences and unexpected misfortunes.
There are no surprises any more. Even features in game, such as vampires sneaking in to houses to feed or unexpected alien abductions resulting in pregnancy seem to be getting toned down or removed completely. These are fun quirky things I love about this game.
Other features, such as the illness system are so mild you can ignore them and nothing happens. We have a hospital in game that could be used for so much more as well as the herbalist skill that could be used to create cures and depending on skill level could lead to a cure or a death. At the very least there should be some consequence for ignoring the illness.
Same applies to features such as the cow plant - I've never had a sim die from that unless I direct them to, lightning strikes, electrocution, drowning, all so mild they make no impact to my game. We even have a pond we can stock with piranhas and sharks and still no surprises.
Fires have become just an annoying event because of how quickly sims react. We have fire-fighters now and they never get a chance to arrive. In The Sims 2 if my sim didn't have a fire alarm their house could become engulfed in flames which meant a lot of hard work to clean the place up and replace the lost items plus their was a chance somesim could die - even a visitor.
Events such as natural disasters (we have earthquakes and volcanoes in game but they don't affect anything), burglars, unexpected dismissals from work, chance cards that can remove family funds not just add to them and that have some degree of surprise would all help, as well as making the other features, some I have already mentioned, have more impact on sims lives.
Again in The Sims 2 teens could run away and sneak out. There was drama in families. Now I have to try so hard to stop my kids and teens being perfect. I can even leave toddlers pretty much to fend for themselves and they still get all the skill required to earn the perfect toddler trait. Perfect is boring especially when every family is the same.
As things are, the only challenge for me is making my sims and their families feel like individuals. The likes and dislikes have definitely helped, the lifestyles not so much, as the same ones seems to trigger first. All a sim has to do is interact with family members and the 'people person' triggers. They just have to visit their friend or go to the local park a few times and they get the 'frequent traveller'. I still like this system, just hate how much I have to micromanage my sims to get a variety. Micromanaging is frustrating but necessary if I want my sims to be individuals because they all choose to do exactly the same thing when left to their own devices, like dance - even when they hate dancing.
Sims themselves lack depth. Their reactions to their environment and each other are all the same. Trying to find my sim a partner or friends is so hard simply because there is nothing to guide me. Sure, I can choose any sim but I'd love some input from my sim.
I'd also like the bad emotions to be stronger, like if they catch their partner cheating they should not be ok to sleep in the same bed. They should be ANGRY! Same when a sim they are close to dies - the sad emotion should cycle to the front of their emotions frequently. Sure, they should experience other emotions on the path to healing but the sad emotion should be the strongest especially at the start.
I realise not all players want the same thing and maybe the answer could be using the lot trait system to implement some things and/or having the ability to turn features off in game options.
Once again, thank you for letting me share my views. I love this game with all my heart - have since The Sims 1. The freedom it gives me to explore different storylines though the lives of my sims is my creative outlet but I like having a few curve balls to keep things interesting. While utopia sounds inviting, in the world of the sims it's just boring. Bring on the spice.
From day one with the first Sims I always felt the clock moved too fast. I have all of the expansion, stuff, and game packs as well as all of the kits. There is so much my Sims could do but they can't because time goes too quickly.
Give us a pack such as Free Time in the Sims 2.
I would like to see more Vacation worlds with more things to do while there. The Sims 3 World Adventures was great and something like that would be fantastic. I want to do more than swim and fish when going on vacation. Jungle Adventure was good and I still go there but it gets old.
I know that this is not a place to voice complaints and this isn't a complaint, just an observation. If one Sim leaves the lot or the town being played and the other Sims in the household are given tasks to complete, those tasks are never completed. In previous versions of the game they were. Now when I have one member of the family leave the lot, the others forget about what I want them to do and do whatever they feel like doing. The result of that is that I don't leave the lot unless the others are at school/work. The I rush through what I want that One Sim to do elsewhere many times not having the time to complete what I set off to do and I am forced to bring that one Sim is home before everyone else runs amok. It is very frustrating because again, there isn't enough time to complete the things I want to do.
I feel that as an adult player of this game (I've been playing since Sims 1) that my voice does not count. I have read some of the comments here and many of the ideas are great. I play this game to escape the horrors of the world that we live in now. I don't want to deal with catastrophic events, hate, illness or death because I have seen enough of that in real life. I have created a world where there is none of that. I delete holidays such as Brawl day from the calendar because it doesn't fit in with the world that I have created. I understand that some people want these things, and that is ok as long as there is a way to turn them off like we can with the calendar or in the options menu. You should listen to All of the players of this game, not just the young ones and you should consider that not all players enjoy the horrific or just plain silly and ridiculous aspects of the game. Older, adults play the game too and you are losing these players for this reason, Our voice counts as much as anyone else's.
Things that i look forward in the sims 4
TRAITS:
More traits that can improve gameplay and maybe another trait slot
I would like negative traits like:Murderer and a career for this BUT when killing someone i would like it to be blurred like when peeing(for kids)
CAREER:
More freelance careers or at least add one more
Its kinda boring especially when you only have one sim
REALISTIC SICKNESS:
Like for women periods or maybe chicken pox
Ex of sickness,
Chicken Pox
Vomiting(If have vegetarian trait)
P00ping when ate a dairy thing(could make a trait for this like for vegetarians)
MORE BOYS AND KIDS GAMEPLAY:
When playing I see that boys don't have anything for gameplay so I want more for boys
I also want more gameplay for kids especially babies or for toddlers
> Hi!
> Things that i look forward in the sims 4
> TRAITS:
> More traits that can improve gameplay and maybe another trait slot
> I would like negative traits like:Murderer and a career for this BUT when killing someone i would like it to be blurred like when peeing(for kids)
>
> CAREER:
> More freelance careers or at least add one more
> Its kinda boring especially when you only have one sim
>
> REALISTIC SICKNESS:
> Like for women periods or maybe chicken pox
> Ex of sickness,
> Chicken Pox
> Vomiting(If have vegetarian trait)
> P00ping when ate a dairy thing(could make a trait for this like for vegetarians)
>
> MORE BOYS AND KIDS GAMEPLAY:
> When playing I see that boys don't have anything for gameplay so I want more for boys
> I also want more gameplay for kids especially babies or for toddlers
EVENTS:
More events like best painting event and you can get a reward and stuff
THATS IT! <3
[*] A Create a World Tool. Making own worlds and editing existing ones is a basic feature since the Sims 2. Without one we will lose all, especially the day when the game is not developed any longer and has to stand on its own feet.
[*] Social autonomy. Yes we need more drama, random events, evil and mean stuff etc but all of this is useless without social autonomy. The sims have to start the drama on their own. Like people with a personality. At the moment they are just pupets and we have to force them to do anything.
[*] basic every day animations. Things like lying on the couch to read or sitting on the floor to chat
[*] Game features have to be available in all worlds. We still don't have stray pets in all worlds. And this is just an excample. That is a no go. Every world is boring at the end because it has just this one game feature. And if you don't want to give it to us then give us a CAW tool so we can add it ourselves.
[*] A bunch of other small things:
I want the missing supernaturals from the previous games.
Horses even if the worlds are not open because they are members of my family and i don't want to play the next generation of this familys
without my horses.
Fully CAStable and flyable Dragon Pets, Kyuubis and Unicorns.
[/list]
Straight to the point:
I miss some of the features from Sims 2 that a lot of people have mentioned ( school bus picking up kids, carpool, wants/fears, burglars) I would love to see more in-depth game play with babies, teens in their every day HS life, I miss the private schools and the interview process to get them in.
Bring back cars as well and I would love to be able to explore each world and walk around without having to sit through a loading screen. Sleepovers for sims, movie theaters which would be an awesome job in "Get to work" for teens especially. High school graduations perhaps? Aging up from a baby to a toddler, fine...but from a toddler straight to a kid? I would love to see something a little more in between.
I Love the "young adult" feature. Sims teaching their kids how to ride a bike, tie their shoes, more vacation options and realistic Summer vacations where kid and teen Sims do not go to school.
If cars aren't an option, maybe an option like "Uber" for Sims to get around? That would be so cool. A shopping mall or grocery store that could also be added to "Get to work" which creates businesses for Sims to purchase and/or jobs for teens and adults per say.
When Sims get divorced I would love to have the option of who gets the kids and realistic co-parenting situations such as; one weekend the dad gets the kids and so on and so fourth. Being able to ground the kids, take away their phones, no TV or games etc..
Thank you for letting us provide some ideas and feedback.
I would like to see more warmth brought to the game through sim to sim interactions. Let children play tag, soccer, go bike riding with friends/family, have sleepovers. Have family game nights with board games.
Some sort of romance/attraction system. Better functioning weddings and other grand type events like proms, family reunions, etc. Extended family interactions.
I would like an option for sim kids to be homeschooled or learn virtually so my sims can travel without failing.
Neighborhood social events/block parties.
Game progression, I would like Townes to get married, have kids, pursue jobs etc. I would like to be invited to weddings and birthday parties for townie friends.
Create a world tool
Thank you for your time
Thanks for listening!
-sims with traits having more consequences (example, clumsy sim going to work and accidentally breaking something important and you having to pay right then or get fired or erratic sim if not being monitored by player with autonomy full, might go jump in a pool in the freezing cold (with seasons) and die or an evil spell caster sim (realm of magic) randomly zip zapping another sim.
-teen dropping out of school and being limited in what careers they would have access to as an adult (ex. A dropout student wouldn’t be going into the astronaut career) and maybe having to get back on track through a program such as a GED program but even then not having as many options as a fully graduated student would have. (I thought of this because sims who go to university can get a higher paying job upon completion and players can already choose not to send a teen to school and have them do poorly in school, so why not have a consequence for it?)
-Making relationships and friendships in game are waaaaaay too easy. Why can my sims just meet a sim, become best friends, woohoo, propose, get married, try for baby, and have a child in the span of less than 5 sim days and the only reason it takes that long is because it takes your sims 3 sim days in order to have the baby. I think that preferences would help make this aspect more challenging. Having turn on/offs, making having similar or opposing likes/dislikes mean something to the NPCs and your sims, etc.
-We need NPC progression and lore. It’s hard trying to just make up everything in game. Sometimes I don’t want to control everything that happens. (Oh, you liked your once single neighbor and planned on starting a life with him? Well too bad, he’s now married to someone else and has 3 kids.) Randomness would make the game more challenging. You would have to adapt to the changing world around you.
-We need lifetime goals. The aspirations are not enough. They are little tutorials in order to introduce a new skill or pack but those are not anything to impact gameplay. We need an objective sometimes. Something to work towards.
-I think Karma points and burglars in sims 3 was a great idea. If you did bad things in Sims 3, you would get bad karma. Meteors would rain down on your house and set things on fire. It made your actions in game matter. Maybe something like that could happen again in sims 4
-Also in sims 3 whenever you had a toddler that you didn’t take the time out to make sure all of their skills were met, they would age up with a random trait that you didn’t get to pick. That was another example of consequences in game that gave the game its depth. It’s like a “develop a trait over time” system or “off of their experiences.”
-Another thing in sims 4 is that you can make a lot of money in game but there’s nothing to spend that money on. In sims 3, you could become partners with local businesses and then work up to buying them out and completely owning them for yourself. Yeah we have it were you can buy multiple businesses in sims 4 if you have the get to work expansion but even then to start, you only have to pay for the lot price. You could add house insurance, life insurance, renters insurance, a phone bill that we could pay for and it could add gameplay and a reason to pay more money. It could be factored in with bills
-We should have an application process for jobs. It would work kind of how the applying for universities process works. You would be qualified based on skill set. If you have a high painting skill and cooking skill, I wouldn’t hire you to come work for the Athletic career and therefore you wouldn’t qualify for that job position unless you had at least level 2-3 fitness skill. It would be an equivalent to experience in a way.
-Everything is too easy in game. It’s too easy to master skills, it’s too easy to complete aspirations, it’s too easy to work your way up through a career, etc… We like a challenge. That is not challenging.
-The emotion system needs to have a memory system added to it. It’s hard to remember life changing events when we have an emotional buff that goes away after about 12 hours after you just married the love of your life. It doesn’t impact gameplay. They don’t add anything to the sims. They have emotions but emotions are fleeting. And the emotion system in game is not that realistic. Again this is a life simulation game. It’s meant to simulate life. Not everyone is happy every day, all day. Sometimes you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you have a bad day. Sometimes you just don’t feel like being happy especially if a loved one just died in front of your eyes. Why does a nicely decorated house and a good meal overshadow that?
As far as Depth in base game I think for 1, the little details such as a school bus picking up your kids for school in the morning, or a car picking up your sims for work need to come back. That was a detail that made it feel real. Now sims just disappear off lots and it just really takes away from the game.
-The different life stages need an overhaul. Babies are pure objects, toddlers and kids need more things to do, and teens are basically adults. Where is the sneaking out past curfew, graduation, prom? The things that gave them their depth? The things that made them teens?
-we need more traits for our sims, we need something that better defines them. The core value system of the sims 2 was a good system. The sims based everything they did off of those core value. (Outgoing versus shy, lazy versus active, etc.) you could tell what kind of sim you had from the way they interacted with others down to the way they got out of the bed in the mornings.)
-The game has lost the details. Details add depth.
These were some of my concerns. Thank you for listening and allowing the community to voice their opinions. Please take these into consideration. We love the game. We want to see it thrive. Most of us are long-term players of the Sims and we want this game to be the best it can be.
Romance & jealousy
I wish more depth to the relationships between the sims. Now married sims are easily flirting with the rest sims. Jealousy happens very rarely. If a celebrity sim is cheating to his spouse in front of all paparazzi, they're are just excited and show approval. There is no damage to reputation. To cause jealousy in one household you need to send a person to see what happens in the bedroom and even then, sometimes sims stand showing no reaction. It doesn't impact sims behavior. Right after seeing cheating sims are kissing autonomously. Also the angry interactions should be bound to what happened between the sims.
Also dates are very repetitive, the same tasks every time. I wish more variety.
Also there's no impact if a sim is pregnant from a lover. A spouse is still happy about a new born. I wish there was an option to reveal that it's not their baby with some reaction and consequences. Also miscarriage should be back. Abortion and teen pregnancy are also important topics.
Careers are too easy
It's also too easy to reach the peak in the career after graduation from university. I wish there were some extra levels (on top of standard ten) for the careers.
Also the active careers, such as doctor, detective are very repetitive and from level 5 it's getting very boring. I wish more depth there because doctor is always my favourite career.
Babies, toddlers, teens
It's also unrealistic that toddlers are completely independant from the parents. They can grab food, can learn everything by themselves.
Babies and teens are very boring to play with. No uniqueness to the teen life stage.
Cats & dogs
There's no motivation to teach pets tricks. There are no competitions, exhibitions where you could show a Pet. No careers for pets. They also can't become celebrities. In the end playing with them is quite boring.
Fame
It's almost not possible to become famous just by doing a career in other careers, e.g., musician, journalist, etc.
From poor to rich
There should be some challenges that would allow sims to start with very bad living conditions and then gradusllu improve their living standards. Otherwise it's not interesting. All sims are always fine.
So. Depth and Challenge. Well, I think that the Sims 4, unfortunately, started off on the wrong foot when it went the "optimistic" route. This began the game in a "winning" state with Sims easily falling into the Happy emotion without any effort from the player. I've noticed that if I use a cheat to fill my Sim's needs, the selection is "Make Happy". But the thing is, I don't want to make them happy, I just want to make them content. Or "Fine", as the case may be. So I strongly feel that having full needs should only put the Sims in a state of "Fine", not "Happy". This puts them in a neutral state, ready to go forth into the world to have their emotions buffed or debuffed accordingly.
On that note, the emotions system still feels unbalanced. I think it has a lot to do with having extra "positive" emotions like Focused, Inspired, Energetic, etc., that pop up on a regular basis, just from object use, autonomy, and environment. Sims are always bombarded with these positive emotional buffs and then on top of it, they boost the Sim's Happiness. It's quite a dogpile of positivity that takes the actual "game" part out of the game and makes it feel like it just runs itself on Easy mode. Because, to be honest, it does. It would be nice to see an Angry yet Energetic Sim, jogging off his frustrations, or a Sad, yet Inspired Sim playing a melancholy tune on the piano or writing a tragic tale.
It often feels like the careful balance that existed in past games is gone, in favor of what feels like the coddling of the player. Sims 4 has the sensation of holding our hands throughout our gameplay, reassuring us that nothing bad is ever really going to happen, that our Sims are forever destined to have an eventual smile. And don't get me wrong, safe spaces are great in real life, but this is a video game. It's supposed to challenge us. Maybe those filler emotions should not be buffed by Happiness at all. Maybe that Decoration buff should only activate to materialistic Sims or be effective once a day. Maybe eating a good meal should only buff Foodie or Glutton Sims into Happiness and just Fine for everyone else. Maybe we need more "negative" filler emotions; temporary states of lethargy, unhappiness or anxiety. Or maybe we need it to be less of a roller coaster of flitting emotions altogether and focused more on locking in on the major spectrum in relation to important events like birth, death, marriage, first woohoo, etc. (and maybe have special event memories akin to Memories in Sims 2 that Sims will think about throughout their lives, both good and bad?) I really feel that the emotion system as it is is a major catalyst in the unbalance and feeling of "Easy Mode". They need to feel more genuine to the Sim's life experiences and what they should be feeling.
I would like to take a moment to strongly recommend watching some gameplay videos of Sims 2 and how that iteration balanced the game and challenged the player. Sims 2 keeps you alert, sometimes on the edge of your seat, clicking around and trying to make sure your Sim is doing okay, getting what they want, meeting their needs, and fulfilling their Aspiration. Please take a look at it, or play it a bit if you get a chance, to see where some of the roots of The Sims came from and what made the game so relatable and engaging and special to so many people. And, of course, challenging. Sims reacted strongly to negative stimuli and it would take some time for them to recover from it. And, if their life needs weren't being met for their chosen Aspiration, they could go into a full blown meltdown. The player would have to put more effort into getting the poor Sim back on track.
Speaking of Aspirations, I'd like to address some of the important mechanics that still, seven years later, feel rather incomplete or just wonky; Traits, Whims, Aspirations, Relationships, Fears. These things all should work together in a cohesive system, connecting and communicating so that each Sim is driven by something specific to them, and each of their choices (or rather, the player's) will effect the outcome of their lives, whether positive or negative. Sims in TS4 need all the individuality they can get because the emotions system has a tendency to make them feel rather samey.
Traits - A Trait should be extremely important to the behaviors of the Sim. It should have a hand in dictating what makes a Sim actually happy or unhappy and influence their emotions, activities, and reactions. It should also have a hand in driving the Sim's Whims. Sims should also have thought bubbles that relay to us what they want, or how they think about something, according to their Traits. Maybe there should be more animations that are Trait specific. Visuals have a way of adding depth that can help tell a better story.
Whims - Why were Whims abandoned? They bridge the communication between the Sim and the player. Please consider an overhaul of the Whims system and have them influenced by a Sim's traits and experiences. Whims, like the emotions, have always felt generic and shared by all Sims instead of exhibiting the personality and wants and desires derived from the Sim's Traits and Aspiration.
Aspirations - This system has really felt like a downgrade from what Aspirations used to be. They are quick and easy and have the feel of game tutorials. To be honest, I don't even pay attention to them most of the time because they don't really have a connection to the Sim they belong to and don't influence them. I think that what we need is a new kind of Aspiration, a Lifetime Aspiration, or Long Term Goal, or Driving Force. This should be new and separate from the existing Aspirations but chosen (maybe optionally?) in CAS. These Lifetime Goals should be something difficult to change (maybe only can be changed when a Sim ages up or a lifetime event happens like births, deaths, etc and a popup could give an option to change it.) This Aspiration should also contribute to driving a Sim's Whims but be something more difficult to attain. It could be for the Sim to have 15 grandchildren before they die (Large Family Lifetime Aspiration) or to have mastered 5 career paths (Successful Lifetime Aspiration) or to have prepared every food dish in the game and unlocked the Grilled Cheese Aspiration (Cultured Foodie Lifetime Aspiration) or to have travelled every year of their life and thoroughly explored all vacation worlds including been to Sixam (Well-Travelled Lifetime Aspiration, maybe this one is unlockable if you own all of the travel packs) or completing 20 full collections (Hoarder Lifetime Aspiration) or making and keeping 50 friends at once (Social Butterfly Lifetime Aspiration) etc. Maybe there could be some for Occults or for Sims who want to track down all Occults or to have been all Occults and reverted back to human in the end. I like the idea of some unlockable special Lifetime Aspirations depending on owning specific packs so that it creates more cohesion between them and makes owning them more valuable.
Relationships - We need a romance system of some sort. Sims should have partner preferences, things that turn them on and off and chemistry. Maybe the Traits should all have a hidden compatible/incompatible system to make it easier/harder for Sims to "hook up". For example, a Lazy Sim who dates a Fitness Sim might have some negative points to hit it off, but if their other two Traits are compatible, they might be okay. So a Sim couple could have up to three compatibility points. Maybe they could even get more if they had similar Likes and Dislikes. And if they aren't compatible, it wouldn't be impossible to hook them up, but it would definitely be more challenging. Maybe a -1 still had a chance but a -3 would have the Sims repelled by each other. And some Traits could just be more neutral. I also think we need a way to select more relationship types in CAS like "dating", "divorced", "grandparent", "stepchild", "frenemy", "enemy", "best friend", etc. so the Sims can begin with some type of relationship score. And, again, we could use to have the happy emotions dialed down when enemies come into play. It's very difficult to make enemy Sims in this game because they just end up talking and smiling and hugging on their own. This could use some updating. I'd love to see the return of the vindictive Sim who sneaks in your yard to knock over your trash barrel, steal your newspaper (or mail maybe), or leave a flaming pile of poop on your front doorstep. Maybe they could send angry texts or post about you on social media.
Fears (and Flaws) - Now that we have a Scared emotion (thank you so much!
Finally, I want to just say that Sims need obstacles. Life shouldn't come easy because that's just not believable or relatable. Maybe careers could carry some random chances for failure now and then, or chance cards that could get them demoted or fired. People who don't want to take the risks could just X out of the chance card and not answer it. It's kind of strange that Sims just get whatever job they want and are destined for inevitable success. New careers should have some challenges in them. For example, the Influencer career should have challenges like, someone starts trolling them or doxing and they have to deal with it or someone gets offended by their latest vlog, and they lose a bunch of followers and have to do damage control. Every career should come with its own unique challenges to overcome. The success in the end will feel more like an accomplishment.
Sims shouldn't be making friends with everyone around them. In past games, making friends was part of the challenge of the game. Let the player initiate the discussions. It would also help to lessen the crazy unwanted spam of calls and texts from random Sims we don't even care about. On that note, I'd also like a way to completely turn off the phone so we get zero notifications. I feel like it's so aggressive now that it's hindering the gameplay and making me frustrated, especially when I play large households. If we could turn off the phones, that could even lend some challenge in itself, to have to seek out other Sims or activities or find where the action is and do things for ourselves. Sometimes it feels like the game is trying to offer too much to me by spamming these random calls all the time. Again, it feels like the game is parenting and leading me instead of just letting me explore with the possibility of failure. It's trying to throw success at me all the time.
Anyway, I hope I was able to explain things well enough. I just got back from an exhausting (but wonderful) hiking vacation and I'm so tired but I really wanted to add my input to this thread. I love to brainstorm and I always have a lot of ideas for what I'd like to see in the game so anytime you guys want feedback or input, I'm happy to discuss.
My first idea in order to add depth is to add some friction in travelling. Being able to travel from San Myshuno to Sulani with a few clicks breaks my immersion. I would like us to be able to go to different lots in the same neighborhood in the same way, but we might need something like a car to go long distances, or airports and airplanes when we're travelling to somewhere very far away and I would like time to pass while we are travelling. Instead of having airports your sim can get into their car/a taxi and drive to the edge of the map (like in The Sims 3) where they'll disappear and you can have a different loading screen with a plane somewhere in the animation. This would require the team to create a bit of a map of where each 'world' is located on our planet, so you can calculate time passed, and the price for the ticket per sim. If car animations are a bit tricky with all the different lots, I would be ok with the car teleporting to the nearest road like in The Sims 3, as long as there is an animation of the sim going into the car. I understand that some simmers might not like this added planning, so it would be great if you made it optional.
My second idea is for you guys to add more rabbit holes throughout the worlds. There are many different buildings that are just set dressing and our sim can't interact with them. I loved what you guys did with the shops in Henford-on-Bagley where you can window shop, but I had hoped that it would've been taken a little bit further where our sims could disappear into them and UI will come up to let you purchase things, like the interface we get when we press 'order' on the computer. I would absolutely love it if some of the set dressing in the worlds could be interacted with, and let your sims disappear into them. The most notable ones that I would love to see are the buildings around the festival place in Wakaba in Mount Komorebi, we should be able to shop in those. Another one is the train at Mount Komorebi. We can press the train station and see a 'Travel' option that costs us a few simoleons, which will trigger the same UI as pressing the 'M' key to travel, but we can only travel to other places in Mount Komorebi, and the sim will spawn just outside of the station rather than outside of the selected lot.
Thank you for listening to the community! I love The Sims 4, and I want it to be the best that it can be.
Just shortly - story progression would be great. Also option to set time speed in game - its weird if sim do few activities like have a breakfast or shower and half of the day is gone.
Thnaks
-An option to toggle weight gain off or on. The weight gain can be a very annoying feature since I often want to be able to focus more on things other than working out, and it's very annoying to have to either do unwanted activities or keep going back into CAS to try to bring my sim back to where I put them originally after so much work making them. People put a lot of care into creating their sims, so being unable to switch off this mechanic that constantly tries to alter their appearance is a real thorn in the player's side.
-Sims should eat much, much faster, and actually sit down to eat. My sims consistently eat while standing in front of the fridge, and take over an in-game hour to eat a simple meal. This is unrealistic as well as annoying. In the Sims 3, watching sims eat was actually fun! Why not bring that little bit of charm over to TS4?
-More CAS items for masculine sims. I know male fashion is trickier to work with, but there should be as much masculine stuff as there is feminine stuff.
-More personality traits. Three is too few. It feels like moods replaced personality, when it could have enhanced it instead. Sims don't feel very fleshed out.
-An attraction system would also help the sims feel more fleshed out.
-More likes and dislikes. 20 quickly starts to feel too limiting. People generally have strong feelings about way more than 20 things.
-Couples and spouses should cuddle while sleeping sometimes.
-Sim behaviour should be more realistic and true to their given traits. For example, I once made a sim who hated fitness, and he would keep hitting the treadmill every single time he drank a cup of coffee. And he really liked his coffee. It was just excessive and bizarre.
-And finally, please just fix any existing bugs. You do tend to have a bit of a bug problem.
Greetings from Ukraine 🇺🇦
All I have to be said is a proposal for changing a Sim with story in CAS. It’s a great feature but in my opinion it could be updated in more useful way. The survey that is supposed to creat a sim based on the player’s answers is a little bit inaccurate. In order to fix it and make it more custom I suggest to give the player all the opportunity to creat a Sim with story themselves! You can leave a survey for those type of players who prefer random. But you can also add a feature where a player can tap and adjust all the things in the way they want. For example, the player would be able to set the career, the level of career, two or tree skills, level of those skills, and budget. You can let player choose budget amount themselves or leave three different options (little, standard, a lot).
Hope that was useful and understandable.
P.S.: Another little suggestion to a changing of the CAS. You can add a feature to the CAS where player could change occult type of the already created Sim or for a Sim from the gallery.