Here are my thoughts on what I would like to see to add more challenge to the game:
RELATIONSHIPS (ESPECIALLY NEGATIVE/ENEMY):
I played two sisters who are enemies and live together. Instead of acting like enemies, refusing to talk to each other, having negative interactions, etc. they've become best friends over the course of a single day without any intervention from me. They constantly have positive interactions and the fact that they're enemies is ignored completely by the game.
I feel the game would be much better if there were more “checks” for these kinds of things. It feels like all Sims act exactly the same regardless of relationship, traits, likes, etc.
If two Sims are enemies, they should not become best friends in a day with no intervention from the player. Their autonomous behavior should reflect their feelings for each other – which are negative.
DATING:
Dates are entirely too easy. It's impossible to have a bad date. I want my Sims to be able to have a bad date (I hate to say it, but like in The Sims 2). As it stands, you just have to have 10 interactions with your date and it's a success. That sucks. I hate dating in this game because every single date has the same outcome.
There's no challenge in trying to get another Sim to like your Sim and have a good time with them. The date “goals” are ok, but there should be a chance of failure. The date “meter” should go into the negative to allow a chance for things to go wrong. And then, it would be nice if there was a consequence, like a larger hit to the relationship or the Sim refusing to date your Sim again for a while..something to make it feel like your Sim can “lose.”
In general, we just need more ways our Sims can fail and more consequences for actions.
DEPTH OF FEATURES (LIKES/DISLIKES):
I love the likes and dislikes system. It's one of the best things that's been added to the game in my opinion. BUT, it still doesn't feel like there's enough depth. Here's why:
First, the Sims don't seem more drawn to activities they like over any other activities. Even if a Sim has several likes and dislikes, they still continue to act exactly the same as every other Sim. I basically have to use likes and dislikes as a guide for what I direct (force) my Sim to do. I feel is should impact their autonomous behavior MUCH MORE.
The dislikes feel useless while you're playing. I have a Sim who is a Goofball. He decided he dislikes mischief. Now, he's constantly unhappy because he's autonomously doing mischief interactions because he's a Goofball. Here's another example of where there should be more “checks.” For example, a Goofball Sim should not be able to dislike Mischief since it's a core part of his personality. An active Sim should not be able to dislike Fitness, etc. if it's something they will autonomously do because of traits. It makes no sense.
I feel that the likes/dislikes were implemented with no integration with the traits or personalities of Sims. Just like with so many other areas of the game, any Sim can do ANY thing. Or to put it more clearly, EVERY Sim can do EVERY thing. That makes them all feel exactly the same. No one is unique. I had high hopes the likes/dislikes would improve this, but they just added to the problem.
Second, it seems like every single Sim in town has likes/dislikes for fishing and fitness. That's it. It's very difficult for them to discover other likes/dislikes. And, there should be MORE likes/dislikes available – why is there no reading or chess or knitting?
WHIMS:
This is so incredibly important to me and one of my biggest problems with The Sims 4. Whims have been abandoned. I am a whims-based (or wants-based) player. I like letting my Sims decide what to do with their lives. Whims (and previously wants/wishes) help guide our Sims and make them feel like real people with their own wants and dreams.
Since there have been no new whims added to the game, I have to use numerous mods to have any kind of meaningful game play for my play style.
In my opinion, the whims should be much smarter if they are updated. There should be more whims and more “checks” on which whims appear based on your Sim's status.
I hate to again compare to The Sims 2, but I feel I must here. In TS2, there were “paths” that the wants would take. For example, a Family Sim would want to fall in love, then when they fell in love, they would get a want to get engaged, then when they got engaged, they would get a want to get married, then when they got married they'd want to have a baby.
The wants made sense for the Sim's life. In The Sims 4, whims are just random and make no sense. I've had a Sim get a whim to move in with another Sim while they were already living together. They will get random whims at random times based on traits, but the status of the Sim's relationships, career, etc. are not considered.
Again, everything is too simple and same-y. We need whims to be revamped, new whims added for new content, and the whims need to make sense for the Sim at that moment – and perhaps have a series of smaller whim that they complete as they get closer and closer to completing a larger goal (like getting married, having a child, getting to the top of a career, etc.) that makes sense.
Also, for the love of God! PLEASE fix the bug where all whims are reset for all Sims in the household when another Sim travels. It's impossible to keep whims pinned and work towards them when they are constantly reset every time someone travels!
TRAITS:
Traits feel mostly meaningless to me. The Goofball constantly pranking their own toilets is so annoying, I had to disable it with a mod. That's not the kind of “depth” we're looking for and I feel the mark was missed big time on that one.
Traits need to make Sims feel different from one another, and right now they just don't. A clumsy Sim might trip a lot...but that doesn't have much impact on gameplay at all.
I don't know the answer to this one. But I feel like integrating traits with whims and likes/dislikes – and making them impact autonomous behavior more - could give a lot more depth. For example, a Sim with the Foodie trait will be more likely to “like” cooking, will roll whims related to cooking, and will autonomously cook meals that require higher skill or gourmet foods, etc.
Sims just need to feel like they have unique personalities somehow, because even now after all these years, they still all feel too much alike.
MONEY/SIMOLEONS:
It is FAR too easy to earn huge amounts of money and buy all the expensive stuff in the game. I feel earning money and promotions should be a bit harder – or at least the jobs should pay less money.
I also really dislike the prices for food. It kills me every time I have to pay 108 Simoleons to make grilled cheese. I wish the money earned and spent was a bit more realistic so we could relate to it better.
CAREER CHANCE CARDS:
The chance cards in this game are useless and I completely ignore them. Performance loss or gain? Nobody cares. They should be much more risky. There should be a chance of getting demoted (or promoted), losing or gaining money – the higher the career level, the bigger the risk.
Same with school chance cards. I never pay attention to these at all. Maybe give a bit more risk – like losing a grade or being suspended from school. On the positive side, gaining a grade or earning an award of money. Just SOMETHING that make them interesting.
Thank your listening to our feedback. I love The Sims and I want to see this game improve. It has such potential to be great, but it's just missing the depth and challenge of previous games – for many of the reasons I outlined above. I'm glad to see the devs are listening and trying to make changes.
Hello PleasantSims! Great to see you on here and to read your suggestions!
I would love to see [b]more skills to be translated to off grid (like writing) as well as more recipes. [/b]As long as you have a stove you should be able to bake or cook any of the recipes. We should also have more events related to school, it feels boring that our teens and child sims have little interactions to no related to school other than the typical pop up messages. Like maybe some base game after school clubs, a prom, graduation, sleepover, or after school clubs. Photography could really use a big update, one of the main reason people use the skill is for family photos and it is extremely hard to get a good one. If the group poses could have up to 8 sims and poses where they are touching each other it would provide a more polished family gameplay piece The sims feel disconnected from their world. They should have more interactions with their surroundings like rolling on grass, cartwheels, sitting criss cross on the ground, sleeping naturally outside vs finding the nearest bench. If npc could have independent gatherings in public locations, without knowing the npcs gathering, (like birthday parties or family reunions) thatcwould help the world feel alive. I would also like to see an illusion of transportation. Like a taxi rolls outside their house and the sims walk to the cab and enters a rabbit hole which lead to the travel world map screen. Same thing could be done in other neighborhoods like public busses in suburbs, charter busses with a bus stop sign for more isolated locations like Forgotten Hollow or Storybrook. Or trains/ subways in City Living. One of the biggest let downs in Snowy Escape was that my sims and npcs couldn't arrive at the train station or leave by train station like it was shown in the trailer Last thing that is important to me is more chores! (Yes I did buy the dust bunny kit and voted for the laundry stuff) Even with all the extra packs to make the home filthy, it still feels to clean and overly perfect. Stuff I think would improve is sweeping (for off grid), more mopping, muddy footprints that you can track inside the house. Drawing with crayons/markers on walls, make those walls dirty!
I'd like to have sicknesses like diabetes,where you have to take meds regularly. And you can Sie if you don't take them or you have to call a ambulance. There's a 50/50 Chance to Die. The sicknesses get better or worse. And I want allergies.
I would like To have multifunctional lots. For example store or family restaurant downstairs and my family living upstairs. This would give a lot choises to game play.
I would like To choose employees from all the Sims not from restricted 8 sims. The way this is now prevent me from making a family and every member of that family working in a restaurant. If you altered this, I could finally have Monty family the way they deserve to be.
I would like To open the world a little bit. Not the whole place. Just those 1-5 houses you allready can see at the same time.
I've already made a huge comment about depth and challenge so this is just another thing I forgot to add. Negative traits are not negative enough. Like evil sims are not truly evil they are just kinda mean and insane sims aren't insane they are just a little quirky. There should be real depth in traits and negative traits should actually negatively impact your sim or other people.
I think it would be cool if pregnancy was more challenging. Kind of how it was in the Sims 2. That felt very challenging.
Also is there anyway we can get some kind of confirmation as to whether or not the Sims 4 on console will get graphical improvements on the PS5 and series x so that it's more on par with pc. The edge smoothing is still not great. I don't really know where or who to ask as none of the console simgurus seem to be active on twitter anymore.
Hi, I think this is a great initiative to share our ideas to improve the Game ... Now let's get down to business... 1-First of all, we need more accidental events in our Game: like a natural disaster, a UFO fell from the sky and crushed your sim, HUMAN BURGLARS, etc. 2-I miss the emotional instability of Sims 2, it makes you take care of your Sims and could be a complement to the medical career 3- Simder !! It will be a perfect complement, considering that most of the players use this type of live application. And it could be a great opportunity to use likes and dislikes. 4- Swimmable waters in each word. Obvious reasons 5- I think choosing traits should be like in The Sims Medieval: two traits and one fatal flaw. A whole good / evil sim is boring 6- The Sims must have a main aspiration that never changes and more complicated than those that already exist in the game. We don't want tutorials, we want a life-defying wish 7-Exclusive aspirations to adolescents. When I was young, I didn't want to have a big mansion. 8- More appropriate family interactions, unique interactions between siblings, from adolescents to children, etc. 9- The option of creating our own home business, without buying a plot of land And I think that's it ... for now Thanks for the opportunity to improve the game.
I had an entire essay planned about ways you could better implement challenge in areas like Sims deaths, careers and skills, and illness, as well as m representation, but I see my creative fellow Simmers have those areas pretty much covered with many of the same ideas and concerns. So I want to touch on some other ones.
TODDLERS
You all did such an excellent job with this life stage. One of the best features of Sims 4 and the best toddlers of the entire series. Sincerely, superb job. However, they don’t get to truly feel a part of the greater community in the worlds because we never see them show up with their families and the worlds are not toddler friendly. There’s no option to take a toddler to the bathroom on the bathroom booths. There wasn’t any large playground equipment pieces made for base game for toddlers and included in all of the little side parks in the worlds like you do for monkey bars and the interactive pirate/space ships. We have a teen hangout lot trait, why not one for other age stages like toddlers and children to encourage their presence on lots? (Wouldn’t mind an elder one, either.)
Another toddler-related issue is that you have a feature that came with the Toddler Stuff Pack that rarely gets used or is paid attention to because it’s made almost inaccessible by its own parameters and other game limitations: Toddler Play Dates. I can’t use this feature without an adult knowing the toddler we want to invite. If they aren’t on community lots, how would my adult meet them? I have to go out of my way to invite myself over to other houses and make my adult chat up a toddler enough so they know them and the relationship doesn’t fade next time I play. This takes up time and makes me end up not using the feature I paid for in a pack. (I actually bought the pack in part for this feature because I thought it was so cool and have to date only used it twice. And we need a play date system for kids, too.)
To me there’s two ways to be able to access this feature better: a system where I can just invite any Sim without knowing them or you tweaking the challenge so that when I invite an adult they bring their toddler. (The first would fix a lot of other issues with parties and events, too.) But this speaks to a greater problem in this game with a lot of good features that could provide depth are rendered useless or ineffective because the game makes it more of a hassle to use than necessary, makes it static to one world (see things related to Cats and Dogs, Island Living, and Snowy Escape), or it’s my next issue, AI.
A lot of other features are “hidden” because I have to go looking for them rather than my Sim just does something on their own. This includes a lot of wonderful interactions that I don’t know are there unless I scroll through all of the interactions and click everything. Sims 4 interactions are underrated by my fellow Simmers in how creative, expressive, and numerous they are. But since my Sims won’t do them on their own, I can see why. You have this great game that does have current depth and challenge, but it’s difficult to access some of it, so people assume it’s not there.
There’s a ton of other things I could say or ideas I could discuss, but I think I’ve taken enough space today. Please update us on what you’ve found here. Don’t prove the cynics right by failing to address the numerous issues.
I love this game. This version is my second favourite overall in the series and just some of the improvements mentioned by myself and other players would make it my favourite one.
I like the concept of "Lot Challenges". A new lot challege "Burglar" would make the game more challenging. A NPC policeman/woman to arrest the buglar when alarmed (via phone or buglar alarm) would be great, too.
Getting a job is too easy imho. It would be more challenging to attend an interview first (maybe similar to the auditions in Get Famous) and wait for the result.
Some jobs (e.g. doctor, lawyer, teacher, scientist) should also have requiremets like have an A in high school or have level 3 in a certain skill.
Btw I'd like to see parttime jobs for "nerdy" teen Sims. They could be a clerk or an EA game tester. This way I could have a(n upper class) teen Sim living in his/her own. Maybe they ran away from all the rules at home...
I'd love to see a singing career in game, EA! You can't let the singing skill go to waste! My TS4 EPs: GTW, GT, CL, C&D, S, GF, IL, DU, EL, SE, CoL, HSY, GrT, HR, FR GPs: OR, SD, DO, V, P, JA, SV, RoM, DHD, MWS
More consequences
The rate at which Sims die by electrocution, drowning or cowplant death should be much higher. For example if a Sim is electrocuted they don‘t die immediately but have to be electrocuted twice. Same with cowplants, Sims that are eaten by cowplants have to be eaten twice to die. That‘s really lame and creates no challenge because it is extremely rare that Sims would get electrocuted twice or eaten by a cowplant twice without the player working towards it. It should be more easy for Sims to randomly die. That way you would have to find ways to revive the Sim, like learning to cook Ambrosia. Having Sims die much easier makes the game more challenging and fun.
There could be a safe mode that can be enabled in the settings that makes dying much harder (like it is right now)
Okay one more thing because I don’t see the idea here yet: For skills, especially cooking, it’s almost too easy to level up as many are pointing out. For cooking specifically, if there was some way to make it so that entry-level dishes once mastered would not give you any skill gain when made, that would be great. So if I want to keep my Sim at a 2/3 cooking level, I can. I don’t need an entire world of 10-level cooks.
Good Morning Sims Team! My name is Kayla, and I've been playing [i]The Sims[/i] since the very beginning. It's a very special game to me and I like what the current team has been doing recently. I've never posted on [i]The Sims[/i] forums before and I appreciate the opportunity today. First and foremost I would like to recognize the update changes that I've seen in the game and the attempts to make it more unique every update. I love that Liza Pancakes can now call my sims and ask for their opinion if she should have another baby. It's an interesting way to allow players to have more say in their "townies" lives. In my opinion, the game would be more interesting if NPCs had more free will, such as randomly getting pregnant, announcing job promotions, having affairs, losing a job, and so on without my initiating such events. I also would love for my own sims to have better memory. For example, if my sim John Smith makes it to Level 10 in the Business career, but then has to change jobs I want there to be record of all the jobs they've had. This would even be cool to include for teens to remember their first job and talk about it with their kids when they're adults (my dad always did that to me). There are only two more things I'd love in the game. I'd love for the family tree to be more detailed. If I'm on generation six, i don't want to have to click on grandmothers and in-laws to see the whole family tree. I want to be able to see in-laws, divorces, cousins, great great grand pappy, and so forth. Lastly, to be blunt, It's been 5 years and it feels like we are seriously lacking aspirations and traits. It's my favorite part of CAS and it's started to bother me for the past year. I have many ideas of how I'd love to see this game but I know this isn't supposed to be a wish-list. I genuinely hope the team gets to read and discuss my comment. I believe that my ideas would be great additions to the basegame and would be great for console players as well. I know the team works hard and these forums probably strike some nerves at times, but again thank you for the opportunity for me to share my thoughts. [i]The Sims[/i] has come such a long way since the first game (I even had the game on my samsung flip phone back in the day!) and i love everything that it has become so far. I know the team won't let us down! Sincerely, Kay
Hello dev team and Guru's, I'd like to start off by saying how grateful I am that you have opened up this discussion. It's incredibly reassuring to feel like we are being truly listened too. I understand the nature of this discussion is exactly that, a discussion, not a commitment to fulfil our wishes, regardless I am grateful for the opportunity.
I believe there are two main issues with depth/challenge and the lack of it in the Sims 4.
1. Core Features offer little to no nuance or consequence.
Traits and emotions more specifically just aren't as nuanced and consequential compared to what was marketed to us back before the game launched.
What is shown in this trailer is completely absent from the average players game play. Different sims with different traits feeling differently about where they are and who they are with, their feelings about the present circumstance then manifesting in their behaviour through what and who they choose to interact with, ultimately creating an entire spectrum of social dynamics from harmony to conflict. This is how the game was marketed to us, and this is what the game severely lacks. The game needs to do a much better job at acknowledging who these characters are, what these sims prefer and wish to avoid, who they like or don't like, what they are feeling and why they are feeling that way, what they excel at and what they struggle with, and then show it through their behaviour and potential to thrive or fail. Behaviour could be anything from their autonomous actions to what they personally desire, leading me to my next point.
2. Sims don't desire anything.
The second issue I believe Sims 4 has with it's lack of depth/challenge is that there is no core progression system the rest of the game funnels into. Sims 2 had wants and fears, Sims 3 had wishes and opportunities, as more content was added to these games these core features grew bigger as a result, offering a broad and diverse goal oriented system that would guide players and their sims to create distinct branching lives depending on their personalities, present circumstances, and other characteristics like skills and careers, while also adding the potential for conflict amongst sims with conflicting desires.
The Sims 4 has none of this. The Sims 4 has aspirations which are essentially a check list of tasks to complete, and whims which have been abandoned and broken for some time. Sims 4 has a huge list of great features, there's whole variety of careers now, clubs, lot traits and challenges, pets, holidays, fame, reputation, diverse worlds and locations, an extremely versatile post education system, NAP's and eco footprint, lifestyles, a ton of skills, etc. But my sims never acknowledge that these features exist, they never want or fear these things appropriately. My sims should want or fear living in a house with certain traits/challenges, want or fear being a member of a certain club or perhaps want or fear getting kicked out of a club, want or fear having a certain NAP enacted in their neighbourhood, want or fear being in a particular career, want or fear getting fired, want or fear engaging with a certain hobby or skill, want or fear engaging with a certain sim in a certain way, etc. As it is now, ever since whims were abandoned and turned off by default, our sims want nothing except their aspiration filled I guess? But aspirations are such a weak mechanic as they currently are so I wouldn't consider that a valid form of meaningful progression, as any sim can have any aspiration at any time the player desires.
Bringing it all together, the lack of a meaningful personality/AI system and consequences, coupled with the lack of a meaningful sim guided game play progression system, I believe are the two biggest areas where Sims 4 severely holds itself back from potentially being the best Sims game to exist. In simpler terms the sims themselves are the weakest part of the game, and for a game titled The Sims this is kind of outrageous, especially when previous entries of the game got it right the first time around.
Edit: To make my point as concise and clear as possible, I basically believe that a Wants/Fears system of sorts (if implemented properly) could really bring the depth and challenge players have been so desperate for this entire time. Sims are supposed to be social creatures with potential to agree or disagree with one another, what one sim wants may be what another sim fears and vice versa. I have created a "master list" of sorts, of what I think a Sim should want or fear influenced by the context of their present circumstances, based on their personal attributes like Traits, Aspirations, Likes and Dislikes, Relationships, etc. It's a long list so I'll put it in a spoiler.
- Worlds
○ Live in *World*
○ Visit *World*
- Neighbourhoods
○ Live in *Neighbourhood*
○ Visit *Neighbourhood*
- Lots
○ Live in a Cheap House
○ Live in an Expensive House
○ Live in an Apartment
○ Live in Student Housing
○ Live in a House with *Lot Trait/Challenge*
○ Visit a Lot with *Lot Trait/Challenge*
○ Visit *Sims* House
- Emotions
○ Become *Emotion*
○ Witness *Sim* in *Emotional State*
- Needs
○ Bladder Failure
○ Social Failure
○ Entertainment Failure
○ Energy Failure
○ Hygiene Failure
○ Death
○ Witness *Sim* Pee Their Pants
○ Witness *Sim* Pass Out
○ Witness *Sim* Become Dirty
○ Witness *Sim* Die
- Relationships
○ Be Nice to *Sim*
○ Be Mean to *Sim*
○ Be Funny to *Sim*
○ Be Mischievous to *Sim*
○ Be Romantic to *Sim*
○ Become Friends with *Sim*
○ Become Best Friends with *Sim*
○ Become Enemies with *Sim*
○ Become Romantic Partners with *Sim*
○ Break up with *Sim*
○ Propose to *Sim*
○ Divorce *Sim*
○ Recieve Kind Interactions from *Sim*
○ Recieve Mean Interactions from *Sim*
○ Recieve Funny Interactions from *Sim*
○ Recieve Mischievious Interactions from *Sim*
○ Recieve Romantic Interactions from *Sim*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Friends with *Sim*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Enemies with *Sim
○ Witness *Sim* Become Romantic Partners with *Sim*
○ Witness *Sim* and *Sim* get Married
○ Witness *Sim* and *Sim* get Divorced
○ Do *Activity* With *Sim*
- Careers
○ Join *Career*
○ Join *Career Branch*
○ Get Promoted
○ Get Demoted
○ Get Fired
- Skills/Hobbies
○ Gain *Skill* Point
○ Lose *Skill* Point
○ Perform *Skill Related Activity*
- Social Events
○ Throw *Event*
○ Achieve *Level* in Event
○ Attend *Event*
○ Participate in *Event*
○ Attend *Festival*
○ Participate in *Festival Activities*
○ Win *Festival Competition*
○ Lose *Festival Competition*
- Businesses
○ Own *Business*
○ Sell *Business*
○ Gain Business Star Level
○ Purchase *Business Perk*
○ Hire Employee
○ Train *Employee*
○ Reprimand *Employee*
○ Fire *Employee*
○ Witness *Employee* Quit
○ Earn *Simoleons* from Running Business
○ Lose *Simoleons* from Running Business
- Clubs
○ Join *Club*
○ Leave *Club*
○ Get Kicked out of *Club*
○ Participate in *Club Activities*
○ Participate in *Banned Club Activities*
○ Start Club Gathering
○ Witness *Sim* Join *Club*
○ Witness *Sim* Leave *Club*
○ Witness *Sim* Get Kicked out of *Club*
- Pets
○ Adopt a Pet
○ Give *Pet* up for Adoption
○ Be Nice to *Pet*
○ Be Mean to *Pet*
○ Be Mischievious to *Pet*
○ Become Friends with *Pet*
○ Become Companions with *Pet*
○ Become Enemies with *Pet*
○ Recieve Nice Interactions from *Pet*
○ Recieve Mean Interactions from *Pet*
○ Have a Litter
○ Witness *Pet* Run Away
○ Witness *Pet* Become Sick
○ Witness *Pet* Die
○ Train *Pet*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Friends with *Pet*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Companions with *Pet*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Enemies with *Pet*
- Holidays
○ Participate in *Holiday Tradition*
○ Witness *Sim* Participating in *Holiday Tradition*
○ Create a new Holiday using *Holiday Tradition*
○ Remove *Holiday* from the Calendar
- Fame
○ Gain Star Level
○ Lose Star Level
○ Purchase *Celebrity Perk*
○ Gain *Quirk*
○ Lose *Quirk*
○ Meet *Celebrity*
○ Get Selfie with *Celebrity*
○ Get Autograph from *Celebrity*
○ Witness *Sim* Gain Star Level
○ Witness *Sim* Lose Star Level
○ Witness *Sim* Gain *Celebrity Perk*
- Reputation
○ Gain Positive Reputation Level
○ Gain Negative Reputation Level
○ Meet Sim with *Reputation Level*
○ Witness *Sim* Gain *Reputation Level*
- University
○ Apply to University
○ Enroll in *Program* at *Campus*
○ Drop Out
○ Join *Organization*
○ Leave *Organization*
○ Participate in Organization Events
○ Work on Homework
○ Work on Project
○ Write Essay
○ Attend Class
○ Get Good Grades
○ Get Bad Grades
○ Get Failed Grades
○ Go on Academic Probation
- NAP's
○ Vote for *NAP*
○ Convince *Sim* to Vote for *NAP*
○ Have *NAP* Enacted in your Neighbourhood
○ Have *NAP* Revoked in your Neighbourhood
○ Visit a Neighbourhood with *NAP* Enacted
○ Participate in *NAP* Related Activities
○ Get Fined for not Complying with NAP's
- Eco Footprint
○ Live in Neighbourhood with *Eco Footprint*
○ Visit Neighbourhood with *Eco Footprint*
○ Influence the Eco Footprint towards *Green/Industrial*
- Lifestyles
○ Gain *Lifestyle*
○ Lose *Lifestyle*
○ Perform *Lifestyle* Related Actions
○ Witness *Sim* Gain *Lifestyle*
○ Witness *Sim* Lose *Lifestyle*
I'm sure I've missed some things in this list, none the less, like Sims 2, as Sims' wants or fears are realized it should hold an impact over their lives, their ability to thrive or fail, their ability to be happy or miserable, etc.
Thank you Team and Guru's once more for giving me the ability to express my thought directly to you about this issue. I look forward to what the future brings.
Hi, I'm Enigsa, first of all thanks for your time and take into account the opinion of the simmers to improve the game and our fun. This is my opinion from the respect without intention to offend or belittle anyone, the game has absolutely beautiful graphics and details but, gameplay is lacking, in the latest updates and packs I have to say that it shows that you are taking much more care of all this and that with This the game has improved a lot, thanks I would like it to continue like this. What I mean by this? You have created the likes and dislikes that I really liked because it gives the sims more personality, and I think it's a good line to follow, what you did with the ecological footprint was wonderful because it was a challenge that was quite entertaining, and All the gameplay offered by the machines in that pack, as with the farm pack that includes running errands, I find it super entertaining, being able to participate in competitions with the animals ... these are good examples of what I mean by gameplay , that entertains. For this game to have a greater level of challenge and depth, for me it is necessary: - bring more life to sims, with a personality that produces unpredictable situations and deeper emotions ... - jobs that involve more participation and more variety. - more social events, improve the social and family relationships of our sims. Thanks💜
One thing I'd like to add is that University needs to actually be a debt to Sims. I want my sims to feel the stress and consequence that going to college means owing some serious cash. At minimum $30,000 (USD) up to $100K for example (depending on the major). I would like to see more financial consequences. Another example would be owing money for having a baby at the hospital like in the US.
first of all, thank you for your work and opportunity to share our opinions. Speaking of improving The Sims 4, I have few things in mind:
1. More meaningful emotions: emotions are one of the best features in the game, but in my opinion they can be improved. I would like them to be appropriate to events that our sims experience and connected with their traits and aspirations. For example, when a spouse of my sim with 'soulmate' aspiration dies, they should be reeeealy sad. Fullfiled needs and nice environment should't make them happy in occations like this. I know, we (mostly) want our sim to be happy but it would be challenging if it would be more realistic. And we can add some actions that need some effort but can improve sim's mood (eg seeing a therapist) 2. More traits and aspirations - that's the area where many things can be improved - there could be more job aspirations, more evil aspirations, and we can go on and on ;) 3. Traits that have more impact on the gameplay - for example, if my sim doesn't like commitment it should be almost impossible for him/her be in a relationship. 4. More careers for sims and options during working someplace (for example more choices) and jobs where we can go with our sims to would be perfect <3 Personally I dream about real musican career, where you can play in a band, have more instruments that can play together (singing in the band would be nice too) 5. More interactions: maybe it's just me, but after playing a little bit I find that sims interactions are very repetitive. I would love to see new animations, reactions etc. Dancing together would be great... 6. I know that this is not a place to speak about other games, but Sims 2 have some cool little ideas which were cute (animations where sims were sleeping, possibility to go to a honey moon, private schools...) 7. DatingApp, please! <3 8. Cars, scooters, tube and others means of transport would be great 9. More options to chose lifespan. Normal is to short for me and long sometimes a little too long ;)
Sul sul! First off love the game thank you for all that you do for it! I was wondering if we could make relationships more realistic like for example brother in law father in law grandma and grandpa step father, step child and so fourth, I just think it would add more to the relationships, also if possible could we add a way to find out the gender of the baby before it’s born? Last thing it would be cool to throw a baby shower, for the sim as well. But anyway thank you for all that you have done for this game it is so amazing!
Thank you so much for this initiative. There are several updates I want to see in the base game.
[b]CAS[/b]: Sims 4 CAS is very advanced, but I would love to insert a grid in Sims face and body to make even more realistic Sims. I would also like "create a style" were back or at least a colour wheel. Also, more and more realistic hair colours with sliders or colour wheel if that were possible.
[b]Build mode[/b]: Create a style and create a design like in Sims 3. Moreover, curved walls and curved crystal walls and free big 60x60 lots.
[b]Opportunities[/b]: I want Sims able to do overtime to be promoted faster, bring a painting to the office, make a friend to boost their charisma...
[b]Random events[/b] Mean or clepto Sims being fired by insulting or stealing their boss. Lazy Sims degraded at work for being caught sleeping, romantic Sims for being caught flirting or woohooing with a workmate. It would be awesome the partner randomly decided to gift something at work and found out they had been cheated. I want some NPC were workmates because it looks like Sims always work alone.
On the other hand, I want to know who Sim bullied my Sim in school or in work and show a negative relationship with them. Sims with negative relationships not being able to chat friendly autonomously.
[b]Traits update[/b]: Love outdoors Sims being able to show happiness by being outdoors. Jealous trait able in children but in a different sense: children having the exact same moodlets but with their parents or any adult taking care of them instead of partners. Clepto Sims able to steal more things. Each Sim having a mean interaction special by their traits: jealous Sims accusing of cheating, snob Sims of childish or vulgar, bookworm of illiterate, etc.
[b] Works[/b]: I want Sims being unable to find a job because they didn't a question of the interview or other Sim got the job. I want works that could make your Sim being absent by several days like fisher or militar. In fact, this is an idea to a pack... And their friends and family leaving them messages.
[b]Packs[/b] More developed aliens and mermaids features like you did in other packs with witches, vampires and celebrities.
[b]Household[/b]: I want random rabbit holes to make Sims waste money in hotels, casinos, cinemas, theatres, concerts, etc and other Sims being angry with that decision. Also, Sims being able to rent a nice house instead of buying one after the CAS. I would love to have NPC housemates to help your Sims pay the bills like in Sims 3 University who could dirt and not clean things, break them or bringing partners to woohoo in the controlled Sims beds, etc.
I would love to see deaths because more common and causes more chaos and difficulties in game. Sometimes the game ts keep warning you of your sim death, sometimes it even don't let you to "get" the death because interaction is locked. I really don't like the game keep giving player chances to save your sim, this idea needs to be erased.
Below is the list that the death I want to be updated.
Base game deaths:
Fire: Sims shouldn't automatically pull out a fire extinguisher magically to put the fire on them out. That should make fire alarms necessary and a big functionality of firefighters.
Mortification: Being hygiene low on the public lot should be very embarrassed instead of uncomfortable.
Electrocution: There should be a bigger chance sim get electrocuted in low skills, even have a chance of die in the first time try. That makes repairman more necessary and makes your sim to read books before trying to repair things.
Overexertion: "Workout" interaction shouldn't be locked even a sim is extreme exhausted. That makes players need to double-check the status of their sim before letting them workout.
Cowplant: Same as electrocution, there should be a chance that sim dies in the first time. This makes players need to take care of their cowplant.
Packs death:
Poison (jungle adventure game pack): There shouldn't be a big chance that sim can recover by themselves. I think it can be based on traits, like love outdoors sim would have a higher chance get recovery.
Freezing/Overheating (Seasons): There shouldn't be a notification of if sim is gonna to die. Making players taking care of their sim is an important part of the game.
Lightning (Seasons): Sims should have higher chances get struck while holding the umbrella. Sims who gain special superpowers of struck to many times should be able to struck other sim.
Spellcaster Overload (Realm of magic game pack): There should be a big chance that a sim with low level die from the first time of overload. The higher your sim is, the allowed chances will increase.
Overexertion, the over using brain death (Discover University): The death allow chances should be based on level of the research skill, depends on hoe much "knowledge" sim has.
Flies (Eco lifestyle): There should be a chance of causing this death is the house is too dirty (Plates, garbage....), your sim will get attacked and die.
Vending Machine (Snowy Escape): Decrease the amount of saving sims, make the animation more unpredictable. Making it as a random death.
Falling (Snowy Escape): A sim in exact level 6 and with no gears on should have a extremely high chance of falling to die.
Below is a list that deaths I would want to see in game.
Fright: If a sim is terrified, they should have a chance death by fright.
Thirst (Vampires): If a vampire's thirst came to end, he/she should die.
Volcano's rock (Island living): If a sim got hit by the rock, he/she will die.
Real shark death (Island living/Get famous): Shark attack death should exclusive death instead of drowning.
Upon is the list that I wanted to see the improvement in game, thank for reading!!
Hello, I like to play family gameplay, legacies and occults. -I would like to see open romance interactions with NPCs. I love having kids with the Grim Reaper but it is kind of annoying that I have to cheat to get that. It would be nice to be able to unlock a secret power or trait from having kids with Grim, like you do when you have kids with Sulani Spirits. -I also like to complete collections and it is kind of frustrating that I cannot complete some of the collections from challenges. I know some of them have been made available to get in certain ways, like the eggs, the beans and the skulls, but others are not available but still there -I would like to see more occult gameplay for kids, even little details would be nice. It feels a bit weird that if I feed my vampire child plasma fruit salad and they get grossed out. It would also be cool if I bottle fed my vampire baby if the bottle was red. I would also like to see more activities and challenges for occult children -More aspirations for children would be nice, I like that they get their own set but always doing the same 4 is kind of boring. Also something like the knitting aspiration should be available for kids -Teens are just Young Adults that go to school and can't get pregnant. -Woodworking and Handiness are not the same thing, these should be 2 different skills. -I would like to see more items for Fabrication and Woodworking that become available with different packs, like being able to make your own rocking chair if you have Nitty Knitting. I would also like to be able to build a whole house with only items my sims have made, I'm a crafter IRL and I like to make my sims make things too. -I would like different designs for pack objects, like the rocking chair, the cauldron, etc.. We should be able to get them if you have 2 specific packs (like more pack integration). Where I come from everyone has rocking chairs in their home (it's not just an elderly thing) so I would like to be able to use more than the one design (you say it's 4, but it's the same design with 4 options). -I don't understand why we can't make flower arrangements with the Death Flower, the look really cool with the skull but we can only use them to scent. It would be nice if they had a different look, like black leaves instead of the bog green ones, or everything looks dead, but even just being able to use them would be nice. Same goes for the alien flowers (pack integration) -I understand why Plant Sims are limited, since they were a challenge occult, but it shouldn't be hard to make them permanent with an easy out (like mermaids) and also be able to change the hair (leave the short hair as an unlocked option if you get a plant sim) -I would like to add a Medium Sage to the Magic Realm, this should be an option, even if we have to use cheats. -I like the Sage symbols in RoM, I would like to get wall decor that includes them, same for the flower thing in paranormal. -in Paranormal there should be a way to befriend the evil doll, maybe with high medium skill. -Mermaids and Aliens need an upgrade, a big one. We should be able to grow kelp, and seaweed, maybe in a special planter with water, specially now that need seaweed to cook. -The bizarre fruit plant is very bugged (I know we shouldn't post bugs here but I just wanted to mention it). -one of the fabricated floor lamps in hidden objects cannot be made on the fabricator and there's a grey dye that cannot be used (I really want it though) -servos should be able to make their own babies, not the traditional way, but on the robotics thing, like in the movie Robots. -we need occult careers for vampires and spellcasters, and college degrees as well, an occult uni would be cool. It would be nice if the Paranormal Investigator License was something we could put on the wall like a degree -we need more aspirations, specially for some careers, but they should also be more difficult to complete.
Inconsistencies need to be solved in order to feel a sense of challenge. There are many problems in this game that take away from having challenges in the game where it can even become frustrating that stem from inconsistencies. From overpowering moodlets to aspirations that are complex yet easy but due to the complexity are often broken as we get more updates and leave the player stuck and frustrated.
Problem: Aspirations
At launch, the aspirations we have right now would've been fine, but 6 years into the future it is no longer the same. Sims can become candlemakers, mermaids, bakers and so much more, yet there are no aspirations for such sims? Aspirations are supposed to be a sim's life goal. The newest aspirations that we get are no longer challenging too. It's like they've been turned into tutorials, despite the fact there's a tutorial play-through and a whole lessons tab in the game's options.
Fix: Aspirations should be simplified to become a singular goal, but a difficult one. Ky-e on Mod The Sims has a mod that does exactly add, which makes the aspirations part of the game feel solid and more complete.
Problem: Traits
Traits desperately need another update, since the last one added very small details, but not for all of the traits, including the traits in packs. Traits don't do much besides encourage certain emotions or adjust skill gain speed. We don't have enough traits and we can't even have more than 3 of our choice. Most traits seem to be way too positive and don't really influence gameplay.
Fix: Making traits have more influence over the autonomy of the sim, career performance and etc. Allowing sims to have more than 3 traits. Traits should also be recategorized (for example, the Brave trait should not be a reward trait and cost 8k satisfaction points even though it just makes them not as scared, despite the fact sims rarely get the Scared emotion in general (it's not even an emotion that is deadly even though it should be!). Aspiration bonus traits should also just be made into regular/reward traits because if I want my sim to be a collecter, as a challenge, I don't want my sim to become automatically good at collecting just because their wish is to be a collector.
Problem: Rewards Store
The rewards store is very inconsistent. Most rewards that are made to get rid of some obstacles cost next to nothing where it not only gets rid of the challenge but also makes it feel so cheaty. (you can become a mermaid for 500 points even though 500 points can be easily earned by even having a good holiday or by buying a potion to get rid of all bad moodlets and fill up all needs for the same price)
Fix: Going through all rewards and making them more expensive should really help this problem. Sacred candles that basically protect you from all evil ghosts shouldn't cost the same amount of points as the number of points you get from a well-spent holiday. Adding some new rewards or bringing back rewards from The Sims 3 would be greatly appreciated.
Problem: Economy
When becoming a rich sim, there's hardly anything to buy that being rich becomes worthwhile. A rocketship costs 1k simoleans while a hot tub costs 3k. It gets boring when you can buy everything you want after a few weeks of going to work. Career wages also are way too big to make it fun to struggle your way towards becoming rich.
Fix: Go through many objects and change up the prices. Rocketships should definitely cost 100k minimum. Career wages should be reduced at least in half.
Problem: Emotions
Emotions are frustrating. Sims react positively to almost everything. Being happy about cute llamas but not being tense about unpaid bills. Being happy about cute drawings around despite losing a loved one and not showing any signs of grief. So many moodlets are just overpowering or the important moodlets from life events do not power enough. Moodswings just kill teenagers.
Fix: Turning most moodlets that don't last more than 4 hours and only give 1-3 happy points should and have no significance to gameplay should be turned to fine moodlets. Happiness shouldn't be something so easily earned and important moodlets should definitely be a priority. Losing an important sim moodlet should at least be 50+ sadness points. To make emotions more in-depth, sims should have a meter that slowly over time gets manipulated over time by either being in states like Very Sad or Very Happy (similar to the aspiration bar from The Sims 2).
Problem: Whims and Satisfaction Points
Whims need a desperate update. We haven't received any new ones ever since Seasons came out. There's no challenge when it comes to Whims and they give so little for the most average of actions due to a lack of important ones like Have a Baby or Whims for reaching levels in certain skills. There are no fears either, so all a sim can do is earn and earn with no risk of losing anything. There's not much of a reward for having many points either.
Fix: Whims to buy a certain object repeatedly should not even be a thing as it becomes repetitive and those whims don't even give that many points anyway. Whims should give more points and be turned into a Wants and Fears system, similar to the system in The Sims 2. That system was so well done. Fears like being rejected by a sim or losing a sim were dangerous as it would bring a Sim's points down and lower their lifetime happiness meter if low enough resulting in a breakdown. This should be integrated with the aspiration meter mentioned above.
Problem: Career Progression
Careers are not as complex as they used to be in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. In fact, they're so poorly done that when a sim is at their job, away interactions such as "Make Connections" state in the tooltip that they decrease work performance when really they actually just freeze performance! It's so easy to get promotions that it takes away from any challenge.
Fix: Make jobs have chance cards that are actually risky. Make the consequences severe like a demotion or take away a lot of performance. Promotions shouldn't happen so often when requirements are met. Updating the away actions is also needed. Interactions that state they will lower performance should do exactly that.
Problem: Danger
There isn't a whole lot of danger in The Sims 4. Burglars are to this day not present, vampire break-ins are no longer working as they used to. Deaths are no longer accidental and with the number of warnings from the game, it's like death needs to be forced to even happen.
Fix: Adding more lot challenges like "Fire Hazard" to make it easier for lots to catch on fire, a lot challenge for a "High-Risk Area" for often burglar break-ins (or the opposite for those that do not want any burglar break-ins). Being poisoned should also not take 3 days for it to kill a sim when there are so many warnings popping up telling you to get an antidote from the computer. But some deaths, like emotional ones, shouldn't happen so often either. Balance is key.
Hi! Thank you for the time to read our opinions of the game!
List of things could add more challenge #1: burglars would honestly be a great addition that happens during random times. It would make the game feel more challenging
#2: more personality slots, it feels really lackluster being able to choose 3 personalities and at the same time not feeling like they add anything to the game either. Having food preferences feels as well odd to have them as personalities especially when we already have so few personality slots. Lactose intolerant and vegetarian could be in likes and dislikes instead
#3 moodlets, it's very easy for one emotion to decide what emotion the sim is feeling. Their spouse could have died or cheated on them but the sim in question happy emotions would take over the sad emotion
#4 offer parents vacation similar to how they did it in sims 3 generations. It would be fun to let the teens take complete control over the house for a few days
I like the concept of "Lot Challenges". A new lot challege "Burglar" would make the game more challenging. A NPC policeman/woman to arrest the buglar when alarmed (via phone or buglar alarm) would be great, too.
Getting a job is too easy imho. It would be more challenging to attend an interview first (maybe similar to the auditions in Get Famous) and wait for the result.
I'd love to see a singing career in game, EA! You can't let the singing skill go to waste! My TS4 EPs: GTW, GT, CL, C&D, S, GF, IL, DU, EL, SE, CoL, HSY, GrT, HR, FR GPs: OR, SD, DO, V, P, JA, SV, RoM, DHD, MWS
More traits, that will make sims more lifelike and give them more personality .
Bigger lots and no load screen when going from one lot to the next in the same world.
Have more than 8 sims in a household. Another 8 can fit on the right side of screen, it'll make the game more challenging having more sims to play with in one household. (:
Comments
Hello PleasantSims! Great to see you on here and to read your suggestions!
We should also have more events related to school, it feels boring that our teens and child sims have little interactions to no related to school other than the typical pop up messages. Like maybe some base game after school clubs, a prom, graduation, sleepover, or after school clubs.
Photography could really use a big update, one of the main reason people use the skill is for family photos and it is extremely hard to get a good one. If the group poses could have up to 8 sims and poses where they are touching each other it would provide a more polished family gameplay piece
The sims feel disconnected from their world. They should have more interactions with their surroundings like rolling on grass, cartwheels, sitting criss cross on the ground, sleeping naturally outside vs finding the nearest bench. If npc could have independent gatherings in public locations, without knowing the npcs gathering, (like birthday parties or family reunions) thatcwould help the world feel alive.
I would also like to see an illusion of transportation. Like a taxi rolls outside their house and the sims walk to the cab and enters a rabbit hole which lead to the travel world map screen. Same thing could be done in other neighborhoods like public busses in suburbs, charter busses with a bus stop sign for more isolated locations like Forgotten Hollow or Storybrook. Or trains/ subways in City Living. One of the biggest let downs in Snowy Escape was that my sims and npcs couldn't arrive at the train station or leave by train station like it was shown in the trailer
Last thing that is important to me is more chores! (Yes I did buy the dust bunny kit and voted for the laundry stuff) Even with all the extra packs to make the home filthy, it still feels to clean and overly perfect. Stuff I think would improve is sweeping (for off grid), more mopping, muddy footprints that you can track inside the house. Drawing with crayons/markers on walls, make those walls dirty!
I would like To have multifunctional lots. For example store or family restaurant downstairs and my family living upstairs. This would give a lot choises to game play.
I would like To choose employees from all the Sims not from restricted 8 sims. The way this is now prevent me from making a family and every member of that family working in a restaurant. If you altered this, I could finally have Monty family the way they deserve to be.
I would like To open the world a little bit. Not the whole place. Just those 1-5 houses you allready can see at the same time.
Also is there anyway we can get some kind of confirmation as to whether or not the Sims 4 on console will get graphical improvements on the PS5 and series x so that it's more on par with pc. The edge smoothing is still not great. I don't really know where or who to ask as none of the console simgurus seem to be active on twitter anymore.
1-First of all, we need more accidental events in our Game: like a natural disaster, a UFO fell from the sky and crushed your sim, HUMAN BURGLARS, etc.
2-I miss the emotional instability of Sims 2, it makes you take care of your Sims and could be a complement to the medical career
3- Simder !! It will be a perfect complement, considering that most of the players use this type of live application. And it could be a great opportunity to use likes and dislikes.
4- Swimmable waters in each word. Obvious reasons
5- I think choosing traits should be like in The Sims Medieval: two traits and one fatal flaw. A whole good / evil sim is boring
6- The Sims must have a main aspiration that never changes and more complicated than those that already exist in the game. We don't want tutorials, we want a life-defying wish
7-Exclusive aspirations to adolescents. When I was young, I didn't want to have a big mansion.
8- More appropriate family interactions, unique interactions between siblings, from adolescents to children, etc.
9- The option of creating our own home business, without buying a plot of land
And I think that's it ... for now
Thanks for the opportunity to improve the game.
I had an entire essay planned about ways you could better implement challenge in areas like Sims deaths, careers and skills, and illness, as well as m representation, but I see my creative fellow Simmers have those areas pretty much covered with many of the same ideas and concerns. So I want to touch on some other ones.
TODDLERS
You all did such an excellent job with this life stage. One of the best features of Sims 4 and the best toddlers of the entire series. Sincerely, superb job. However, they don’t get to truly feel a part of the greater community in the worlds because we never see them show up with their families and the worlds are not toddler friendly. There’s no option to take a toddler to the bathroom on the bathroom booths. There wasn’t any large playground equipment pieces made for base game for toddlers and included in all of the little side parks in the worlds like you do for monkey bars and the interactive pirate/space ships. We have a teen hangout lot trait, why not one for other age stages like toddlers and children to encourage their presence on lots? (Wouldn’t mind an elder one, either.)
Another toddler-related issue is that you have a feature that came with the Toddler Stuff Pack that rarely gets used or is paid attention to because it’s made almost inaccessible by its own parameters and other game limitations: Toddler Play Dates. I can’t use this feature without an adult knowing the toddler we want to invite. If they aren’t on community lots, how would my adult meet them? I have to go out of my way to invite myself over to other houses and make my adult chat up a toddler enough so they know them and the relationship doesn’t fade next time I play. This takes up time and makes me end up not using the feature I paid for in a pack. (I actually bought the pack in part for this feature because I thought it was so cool and have to date only used it twice. And we need a play date system for kids, too.)
To me there’s two ways to be able to access this feature better: a system where I can just invite any Sim without knowing them or you tweaking the challenge so that when I invite an adult they bring their toddler. (The first would fix a lot of other issues with parties and events, too.) But this speaks to a greater problem in this game with a lot of good features that could provide depth are rendered useless or ineffective because the game makes it more of a hassle to use than necessary, makes it static to one world (see things related to Cats and Dogs, Island Living, and Snowy Escape), or it’s my next issue, AI.
A lot of other features are “hidden” because I have to go looking for them rather than my Sim just does something on their own. This includes a lot of wonderful interactions that I don’t know are there unless I scroll through all of the interactions and click everything. Sims 4 interactions are underrated by my fellow Simmers in how creative, expressive, and numerous they are. But since my Sims won’t do them on their own, I can see why. You have this great game that does have current depth and challenge, but it’s difficult to access some of it, so people assume it’s not there.
There’s a ton of other things I could say or ideas I could discuss, but I think I’ve taken enough space today. Please update us on what you’ve found here. Don’t prove the cynics right by failing to address the numerous issues.
I love this game. This version is my second favourite overall in the series and just some of the improvements mentioned by myself and other players would make it my favourite one.
Getting a job is too easy imho. It would be more challenging to attend an interview first (maybe similar to the auditions in Get Famous) and wait for the result.
Some jobs (e.g. doctor, lawyer, teacher, scientist) should also have requiremets like have an A in high school or have level 3 in a certain skill.
Btw I'd like to see parttime jobs for "nerdy" teen Sims. They could be a clerk or an EA game tester. This way I could have a(n upper class) teen Sim living in his/her own. Maybe they ran away from all the rules at home...
The rate at which Sims die by electrocution, drowning or cowplant death should be much higher. For example if a Sim is electrocuted they don‘t die immediately but have to be electrocuted twice. Same with cowplants, Sims that are eaten by cowplants have to be eaten twice to die. That‘s really lame and creates no challenge because it is extremely rare that Sims would get electrocuted twice or eaten by a cowplant twice without the player working towards it. It should be more easy for Sims to randomly die. That way you would have to find ways to revive the Sim, like learning to cook Ambrosia. Having Sims die much easier makes the game more challenging and fun.
There could be a safe mode that can be enabled in the settings that makes dying much harder (like it is right now)
My name is Kayla, and I've been playing [i]The Sims[/i] since the very beginning. It's a very special game to me and I like what the current team has been doing recently. I've never posted on [i]The Sims[/i] forums before and I appreciate the opportunity today.
First and foremost I would like to recognize the update changes that I've seen in the game and the attempts to make it more unique every update. I love that Liza Pancakes can now call my sims and ask for their opinion if she should have another baby. It's an interesting way to allow players to have more say in their "townies" lives. In my opinion, the game would be more interesting if NPCs had more free will, such as randomly getting pregnant, announcing job promotions, having affairs, losing a job, and so on without my initiating such events. I also would love for my own sims to have better memory. For example, if my sim John Smith makes it to Level 10 in the Business career, but then has to change jobs I want there to be record of all the jobs they've had. This would even be cool to include for teens to remember their first job and talk about it with their kids when they're adults (my dad always did that to me). There are only two more things I'd love in the game. I'd love for the family tree to be more detailed. If I'm on generation six, i don't want to have to click on grandmothers and in-laws to see the whole family tree. I want to be able to see in-laws, divorces, cousins, great great grand pappy, and so forth. Lastly, to be blunt, It's been 5 years and it feels like we are seriously lacking aspirations and traits. It's my favorite part of CAS and it's started to bother me for the past year. I have many ideas of how I'd love to see this game but I know this isn't supposed to be a wish-list.
I genuinely hope the team gets to read and discuss my comment. I believe that my ideas would be great additions to the basegame and would be great for console players as well. I know the team works hard and these forums probably strike some nerves at times, but again thank you for the opportunity for me to share my thoughts. [i]The Sims[/i] has come such a long way since the first game (I even had the game on my samsung flip phone back in the day!) and i love everything that it has become so far. I know the team won't let us down!
Sincerely,
Kay
I believe there are two main issues with depth/challenge and the lack of it in the Sims 4.
1. Core Features offer little to no nuance or consequence.
Traits and emotions more specifically just aren't as nuanced and consequential compared to what was marketed to us back before the game launched.
What is shown in this trailer is completely absent from the average players game play. Different sims with different traits feeling differently about where they are and who they are with, their feelings about the present circumstance then manifesting in their behaviour through what and who they choose to interact with, ultimately creating an entire spectrum of social dynamics from harmony to conflict. This is how the game was marketed to us, and this is what the game severely lacks. The game needs to do a much better job at acknowledging who these characters are, what these sims prefer and wish to avoid, who they like or don't like, what they are feeling and why they are feeling that way, what they excel at and what they struggle with, and then show it through their behaviour and potential to thrive or fail. Behaviour could be anything from their autonomous actions to what they personally desire, leading me to my next point.
2. Sims don't desire anything.
The second issue I believe Sims 4 has with it's lack of depth/challenge is that there is no core progression system the rest of the game funnels into. Sims 2 had wants and fears, Sims 3 had wishes and opportunities, as more content was added to these games these core features grew bigger as a result, offering a broad and diverse goal oriented system that would guide players and their sims to create distinct branching lives depending on their personalities, present circumstances, and other characteristics like skills and careers, while also adding the potential for conflict amongst sims with conflicting desires.
The Sims 4 has none of this. The Sims 4 has aspirations which are essentially a check list of tasks to complete, and whims which have been abandoned and broken for some time. Sims 4 has a huge list of great features, there's whole variety of careers now, clubs, lot traits and challenges, pets, holidays, fame, reputation, diverse worlds and locations, an extremely versatile post education system, NAP's and eco footprint, lifestyles, a ton of skills, etc. But my sims never acknowledge that these features exist, they never want or fear these things appropriately. My sims should want or fear living in a house with certain traits/challenges, want or fear being a member of a certain club or perhaps want or fear getting kicked out of a club, want or fear having a certain NAP enacted in their neighbourhood, want or fear being in a particular career, want or fear getting fired, want or fear engaging with a certain hobby or skill, want or fear engaging with a certain sim in a certain way, etc. As it is now, ever since whims were abandoned and turned off by default, our sims want nothing except their aspiration filled I guess? But aspirations are such a weak mechanic as they currently are so I wouldn't consider that a valid form of meaningful progression, as any sim can have any aspiration at any time the player desires.
Bringing it all together, the lack of a meaningful personality/AI system and consequences, coupled with the lack of a meaningful sim guided game play progression system, I believe are the two biggest areas where Sims 4 severely holds itself back from potentially being the best Sims game to exist. In simpler terms the sims themselves are the weakest part of the game, and for a game titled The Sims this is kind of outrageous, especially when previous entries of the game got it right the first time around.
Edit: To make my point as concise and clear as possible, I basically believe that a Wants/Fears system of sorts (if implemented properly) could really bring the depth and challenge players have been so desperate for this entire time. Sims are supposed to be social creatures with potential to agree or disagree with one another, what one sim wants may be what another sim fears and vice versa. I have created a "master list" of sorts, of what I think a Sim should want or fear influenced by the context of their present circumstances, based on their personal attributes like Traits, Aspirations, Likes and Dislikes, Relationships, etc. It's a long list so I'll put it in a spoiler.
○ Live in *World*
○ Visit *World*
- Neighbourhoods
○ Live in *Neighbourhood*
○ Visit *Neighbourhood*
- Lots
○ Live in a Cheap House
○ Live in an Expensive House
○ Live in an Apartment
○ Live in Student Housing
○ Live in a House with *Lot Trait/Challenge*
○ Visit a Lot with *Lot Trait/Challenge*
○ Visit *Sims* House
- Emotions
○ Become *Emotion*
○ Witness *Sim* in *Emotional State*
- Needs
○ Bladder Failure
○ Social Failure
○ Entertainment Failure
○ Energy Failure
○ Hygiene Failure
○ Death
○ Witness *Sim* Pee Their Pants
○ Witness *Sim* Pass Out
○ Witness *Sim* Become Dirty
○ Witness *Sim* Die
- Relationships
○ Be Nice to *Sim*
○ Be Mean to *Sim*
○ Be Funny to *Sim*
○ Be Mischievous to *Sim*
○ Be Romantic to *Sim*
○ Become Friends with *Sim*
○ Become Best Friends with *Sim*
○ Become Enemies with *Sim*
○ Become Romantic Partners with *Sim*
○ Break up with *Sim*
○ Propose to *Sim*
○ Divorce *Sim*
○ Recieve Kind Interactions from *Sim*
○ Recieve Mean Interactions from *Sim*
○ Recieve Funny Interactions from *Sim*
○ Recieve Mischievious Interactions from *Sim*
○ Recieve Romantic Interactions from *Sim*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Friends with *Sim*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Enemies with *Sim
○ Witness *Sim* Become Romantic Partners with *Sim*
○ Witness *Sim* and *Sim* get Married
○ Witness *Sim* and *Sim* get Divorced
○ Do *Activity* With *Sim*
- Careers
○ Join *Career*
○ Join *Career Branch*
○ Get Promoted
○ Get Demoted
○ Get Fired
- Skills/Hobbies
○ Gain *Skill* Point
○ Lose *Skill* Point
○ Perform *Skill Related Activity*
- Social Events
○ Throw *Event*
○ Achieve *Level* in Event
○ Attend *Event*
○ Participate in *Event*
○ Attend *Festival*
○ Participate in *Festival Activities*
○ Win *Festival Competition*
○ Lose *Festival Competition*
- Businesses
○ Own *Business*
○ Sell *Business*
○ Gain Business Star Level
○ Purchase *Business Perk*
○ Hire Employee
○ Train *Employee*
○ Reprimand *Employee*
○ Fire *Employee*
○ Witness *Employee* Quit
○ Earn *Simoleons* from Running Business
○ Lose *Simoleons* from Running Business
- Clubs
○ Join *Club*
○ Leave *Club*
○ Get Kicked out of *Club*
○ Participate in *Club Activities*
○ Participate in *Banned Club Activities*
○ Start Club Gathering
○ Witness *Sim* Join *Club*
○ Witness *Sim* Leave *Club*
○ Witness *Sim* Get Kicked out of *Club*
- Pets
○ Adopt a Pet
○ Give *Pet* up for Adoption
○ Be Nice to *Pet*
○ Be Mean to *Pet*
○ Be Mischievious to *Pet*
○ Become Friends with *Pet*
○ Become Companions with *Pet*
○ Become Enemies with *Pet*
○ Recieve Nice Interactions from *Pet*
○ Recieve Mean Interactions from *Pet*
○ Have a Litter
○ Witness *Pet* Run Away
○ Witness *Pet* Become Sick
○ Witness *Pet* Die
○ Train *Pet*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Friends with *Pet*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Companions with *Pet*
○ Witness *Sim* Become Enemies with *Pet*
- Holidays
○ Participate in *Holiday Tradition*
○ Witness *Sim* Participating in *Holiday Tradition*
○ Create a new Holiday using *Holiday Tradition*
○ Remove *Holiday* from the Calendar
- Fame
○ Gain Star Level
○ Lose Star Level
○ Purchase *Celebrity Perk*
○ Gain *Quirk*
○ Lose *Quirk*
○ Meet *Celebrity*
○ Get Selfie with *Celebrity*
○ Get Autograph from *Celebrity*
○ Witness *Sim* Gain Star Level
○ Witness *Sim* Lose Star Level
○ Witness *Sim* Gain *Celebrity Perk*
- Reputation
○ Gain Positive Reputation Level
○ Gain Negative Reputation Level
○ Meet Sim with *Reputation Level*
○ Witness *Sim* Gain *Reputation Level*
- University
○ Apply to University
○ Enroll in *Program* at *Campus*
○ Drop Out
○ Join *Organization*
○ Leave *Organization*
○ Participate in Organization Events
○ Work on Homework
○ Work on Project
○ Write Essay
○ Attend Class
○ Get Good Grades
○ Get Bad Grades
○ Get Failed Grades
○ Go on Academic Probation
- NAP's
○ Vote for *NAP*
○ Convince *Sim* to Vote for *NAP*
○ Have *NAP* Enacted in your Neighbourhood
○ Have *NAP* Revoked in your Neighbourhood
○ Visit a Neighbourhood with *NAP* Enacted
○ Participate in *NAP* Related Activities
○ Get Fined for not Complying with NAP's
- Eco Footprint
○ Live in Neighbourhood with *Eco Footprint*
○ Visit Neighbourhood with *Eco Footprint*
○ Influence the Eco Footprint towards *Green/Industrial*
- Lifestyles
○ Gain *Lifestyle*
○ Lose *Lifestyle*
○ Perform *Lifestyle* Related Actions
○ Witness *Sim* Gain *Lifestyle*
○ Witness *Sim* Lose *Lifestyle*
Thank you Team and Guru's once more for giving me the ability to express my thought directly to you about this issue. I look forward to what the future brings.
- bring more life to sims, with a personality that produces unpredictable situations and deeper emotions ...
- jobs that involve more participation and more variety.
- more social events, improve the social and family relationships of our sims.
Thanks💜
first of all, thank you for your work and opportunity to share our opinions.
Speaking of improving The Sims 4, I have few things in mind:
1. More meaningful emotions: emotions are one of the best features in the game, but in my opinion they can be improved. I would like them to be appropriate to events that our sims experience and connected with their traits and aspirations. For example, when a spouse of my sim with 'soulmate' aspiration dies, they should be reeeealy sad. Fullfiled needs and nice environment should't make them happy in occations like this. I know, we (mostly) want our sim to be happy but it would be challenging if it would be more realistic. And we can add some actions that need some effort but can improve sim's mood (eg seeing a therapist)
2. More traits and aspirations - that's the area where many things can be improved - there could be more job aspirations, more evil aspirations, and we can go on and on ;)
3. Traits that have more impact on the gameplay - for example, if my sim doesn't like commitment it should be almost impossible for him/her be in a relationship.
4. More careers for sims and options during working someplace (for example more choices) and jobs where we can go with our sims to would be perfect <3 Personally I dream about real musican career, where you can play in a band, have more instruments that can play together (singing in the band would be nice too)
5. More interactions: maybe it's just me, but after playing a little bit I find that sims interactions are very repetitive. I would love to see new animations, reactions etc. Dancing together would be great...
6. I know that this is not a place to speak about other games, but Sims 2 have some cool little ideas which were cute (animations where sims were sleeping, possibility to go to a honey moon, private schools...)
7. DatingApp, please! <3
8. Cars, scooters, tube and others means of transport would be great
9. More options to chose lifespan. Normal is to short for me and long sometimes a little too long ;)
Thank you Guys for listening, love you! <3
First off love the game thank you for all that you do for it! I was wondering if we could make relationships more realistic like for example brother in law father in law grandma and grandpa step father, step child and so fourth, I just think it would add more to the relationships, also if possible could we add a way to find out the gender of the baby before it’s born? Last thing it would be cool to throw a baby shower, for the sim as well. But anyway thank you for all that you have done for this game it is so amazing!
[b]CAS[/b]:
Sims 4 CAS is very advanced, but I would love to insert a grid in Sims face and body to make even more realistic Sims. I would also like "create a style" were back or at least a colour wheel. Also, more and more realistic hair colours with sliders or colour wheel if that were possible.
[b]Build mode[/b]:
Create a style and create a design like in Sims 3. Moreover, curved walls and curved crystal walls and free big 60x60 lots.
[b]Opportunities[/b]:
I want Sims able to do overtime to be promoted faster, bring a painting to the office, make a friend to boost their charisma...
[b]Random events[/b]
Mean or clepto Sims being fired by insulting or stealing their boss. Lazy Sims degraded at work for being caught sleeping, romantic Sims for being caught flirting or woohooing with a workmate. It would be awesome the partner randomly decided to gift something at work and found out they had been cheated. I want some NPC were workmates because it looks like Sims always work alone.
On the other hand, I want to know who Sim bullied my Sim in school or in work and show a negative relationship with them. Sims with negative relationships not being able to chat friendly autonomously.
[b]Traits update[/b]:
Love outdoors Sims being able to show happiness by being outdoors.
Jealous trait able in children but in a different sense: children having the exact same moodlets but with their parents or any adult taking care of them instead of partners.
Clepto Sims able to steal more things.
Each Sim having a mean interaction special by their traits: jealous Sims accusing of cheating, snob Sims of childish or vulgar, bookworm of illiterate, etc.
[b] Works[/b]:
I want Sims being unable to find a job because they didn't a question of the interview or other Sim got the job.
I want works that could make your Sim being absent by several days like fisher or militar. In fact, this is an idea to a pack... And their friends and family leaving them messages.
[b]Packs[/b]
More developed aliens and mermaids features like you did in other packs with witches, vampires and celebrities.
[b]Household[/b]:
I want random rabbit holes to make Sims waste money in hotels, casinos, cinemas, theatres, concerts, etc and other Sims being angry with that decision.
Also, Sims being able to rent a nice house instead of buying one after the CAS. I would love to have NPC housemates to help your Sims pay the bills like in Sims 3 University who could dirt and not clean things, break them or bringing partners to woohoo in the controlled Sims beds, etc.
Sometimes the game ts keep warning you of your sim death, sometimes it even don't let you to "get" the death because interaction is locked.
I really don't like the game keep giving player chances to save your sim, this idea needs to be erased.
Below is the list that the death I want to be updated.
Base game deaths:
Fire: Sims shouldn't automatically pull out a fire extinguisher magically to put the fire on them out. That should make fire alarms necessary and a big functionality of firefighters.
Mortification: Being hygiene low on the public lot should be very embarrassed instead of uncomfortable.
Electrocution: There should be a bigger chance sim get electrocuted in low skills, even have a chance of die in the first time try. That makes repairman more necessary and makes your sim to read books before trying to repair things.
Overexertion: "Workout" interaction shouldn't be locked even a sim is extreme exhausted. That makes players need to double-check the status of their sim before letting them workout.
Cowplant: Same as electrocution, there should be a chance that sim dies in the first time. This makes players need to take care of their cowplant.
Packs death:
Poison (jungle adventure game pack): There shouldn't be a big chance that sim can recover by themselves. I think it can be based on traits, like love outdoors sim would have a higher chance get recovery.
Freezing/Overheating (Seasons): There shouldn't be a notification of if sim is gonna to die. Making players taking care of their sim is an important part of the game.
Lightning (Seasons): Sims should have higher chances get struck while holding the umbrella. Sims who gain special superpowers of struck to many times should be able to struck other sim.
Spellcaster Overload (Realm of magic game pack): There should be a big chance that a sim with low level die from the first time of overload. The higher your sim is, the allowed chances will increase.
Overexertion, the over using brain death (Discover University): The death allow chances should be based on level of the research skill, depends on hoe much "knowledge" sim has.
Flies (Eco lifestyle): There should be a chance of causing this death is the house is too dirty (Plates, garbage....), your sim will get attacked and die.
Vending Machine (Snowy Escape): Decrease the amount of saving sims, make the animation more unpredictable. Making it as a random death.
Falling (Snowy Escape): A sim in exact level 6 and with no gears on should have a extremely high chance of falling to die.
Below is a list that deaths I would want to see in game.
Fright: If a sim is terrified, they should have a chance death by fright.
Thirst (Vampires): If a vampire's thirst came to end, he/she should die.
Volcano's rock (Island living): If a sim got hit by the rock, he/she will die.
Real shark death (Island living/Get famous): Shark attack death should exclusive death instead of drowning.
Upon is the list that I wanted to see the improvement in game, thank for reading!!
-I would like to see open romance interactions with NPCs. I love having kids with the Grim Reaper but it is kind of annoying that I have to cheat to get that. It would be nice to be able to unlock a secret power or trait from having kids with Grim, like you do when you have kids with Sulani Spirits.
-I also like to complete collections and it is kind of frustrating that I cannot complete some of the collections from challenges. I know some of them have been made available to get in certain ways, like the eggs, the beans and the skulls, but others are not available but still there
-I would like to see more occult gameplay for kids, even little details would be nice. It feels a bit weird that if I feed my vampire child plasma fruit salad and they get grossed out. It would also be cool if I bottle fed my vampire baby if the bottle was red. I would also like to see more activities and challenges for occult children
-More aspirations for children would be nice, I like that they get their own set but always doing the same 4 is kind of boring. Also something like the knitting aspiration should be available for kids
-Teens are just Young Adults that go to school and can't get pregnant.
-Woodworking and Handiness are not the same thing, these should be 2 different skills.
-I would like to see more items for Fabrication and Woodworking that become available with different packs, like being able to make your own rocking chair if you have Nitty Knitting. I would also like to be able to build a whole house with only items my sims have made, I'm a crafter IRL and I like to make my sims make things too.
-I would like different designs for pack objects, like the rocking chair, the cauldron, etc.. We should be able to get them if you have 2 specific packs (like more pack integration). Where I come from everyone has rocking chairs in their home (it's not just an elderly thing) so I would like to be able to use more than the one design (you say it's 4, but it's the same design with 4 options).
-I don't understand why we can't make flower arrangements with the Death Flower, the look really cool with the skull but we can only use them to scent. It would be nice if they had a different look, like black leaves instead of the bog green ones, or everything looks dead, but even just being able to use them would be nice. Same goes for the alien flowers (pack integration)
-I understand why Plant Sims are limited, since they were a challenge occult, but it shouldn't be hard to make them permanent with an easy out (like mermaids) and also be able to change the hair (leave the short hair as an unlocked option if you get a plant sim)
-I would like to add a Medium Sage to the Magic Realm, this should be an option, even if we have to use cheats.
-I like the Sage symbols in RoM, I would like to get wall decor that includes them, same for the flower thing in paranormal.
-in Paranormal there should be a way to befriend the evil doll, maybe with high medium skill.
-Mermaids and Aliens need an upgrade, a big one. We should be able to grow kelp, and seaweed, maybe in a special planter with water, specially now that need seaweed to cook.
-The bizarre fruit plant is very bugged (I know we shouldn't post bugs here but I just wanted to mention it).
-one of the fabricated floor lamps in hidden objects cannot be made on the fabricator and there's a grey dye that cannot be used (I really want it though)
-servos should be able to make their own babies, not the traditional way, but on the robotics thing, like in the movie Robots.
-we need occult careers for vampires and spellcasters, and college degrees as well, an occult uni would be cool. It would be nice if the Paranormal Investigator License was something we could put on the wall like a degree
-we need more aspirations, specially for some careers, but they should also be more difficult to complete.
Problem: Aspirations
At launch, the aspirations we have right now would've been fine, but 6 years into the future it is no longer the same. Sims can become candlemakers, mermaids, bakers and so much more, yet there are no aspirations for such sims? Aspirations are supposed to be a sim's life goal. The newest aspirations that we get are no longer challenging too. It's like they've been turned into tutorials, despite the fact there's a tutorial play-through and a whole lessons tab in the game's options.
Fix: Aspirations should be simplified to become a singular goal, but a difficult one. Ky-e on Mod The Sims has a mod that does exactly add, which makes the aspirations part of the game feel solid and more complete.
Problem: Traits
Traits desperately need another update, since the last one added very small details, but not for all of the traits, including the traits in packs. Traits don't do much besides encourage certain emotions or adjust skill gain speed. We don't have enough traits and we can't even have more than 3 of our choice. Most traits seem to be way too positive and don't really influence gameplay.
Fix: Making traits have more influence over the autonomy of the sim, career performance and etc. Allowing sims to have more than 3 traits. Traits should also be recategorized (for example, the Brave trait should not be a reward trait and cost 8k satisfaction points even though it just makes them not as scared, despite the fact sims rarely get the Scared emotion in general (it's not even an emotion that is deadly even though it should be!). Aspiration bonus traits should also just be made into regular/reward traits because if I want my sim to be a collecter, as a challenge, I don't want my sim to become automatically good at collecting just because their wish is to be a collector.
Problem: Rewards Store
The rewards store is very inconsistent. Most rewards that are made to get rid of some obstacles cost next to nothing where it not only gets rid of the challenge but also makes it feel so cheaty. (you can become a mermaid for 500 points even though 500 points can be easily earned by even having a good holiday or by buying a potion to get rid of all bad moodlets and fill up all needs for the same price)
Fix: Going through all rewards and making them more expensive should really help this problem. Sacred candles that basically protect you from all evil ghosts shouldn't cost the same amount of points as the number of points you get from a well-spent holiday. Adding some new rewards or bringing back rewards from The Sims 3 would be greatly appreciated.
Problem: Economy
When becoming a rich sim, there's hardly anything to buy that being rich becomes worthwhile. A rocketship costs 1k simoleans while a hot tub costs 3k. It gets boring when you can buy everything you want after a few weeks of going to work. Career wages also are way too big to make it fun to struggle your way towards becoming rich.
Fix: Go through many objects and change up the prices. Rocketships should definitely cost 100k minimum. Career wages should be reduced at least in half.
Problem: Emotions
Emotions are frustrating. Sims react positively to almost everything. Being happy about cute llamas but not being tense about unpaid bills. Being happy about cute drawings around despite losing a loved one and not showing any signs of grief. So many moodlets are just overpowering or the important moodlets from life events do not power enough. Moodswings just kill teenagers.
Fix: Turning most moodlets that don't last more than 4 hours and only give 1-3 happy points should and have no significance to gameplay should be turned to fine moodlets. Happiness shouldn't be something so easily earned and important moodlets should definitely be a priority. Losing an important sim moodlet should at least be 50+ sadness points. To make emotions more in-depth, sims should have a meter that slowly over time gets manipulated over time by either being in states like Very Sad or Very Happy (similar to the aspiration bar from The Sims 2).
Problem: Whims and Satisfaction Points
Whims need a desperate update. We haven't received any new ones ever since Seasons came out. There's no challenge when it comes to Whims and they give so little for the most average of actions due to a lack of important ones like Have a Baby or Whims for reaching levels in certain skills. There are no fears either, so all a sim can do is earn and earn with no risk of losing anything. There's not much of a reward for having many points either.
Fix: Whims to buy a certain object repeatedly should not even be a thing as it becomes repetitive and those whims don't even give that many points anyway. Whims should give more points and be turned into a Wants and Fears system, similar to the system in The Sims 2. That system was so well done. Fears like being rejected by a sim or losing a sim were dangerous as it would bring a Sim's points down and lower their lifetime happiness meter if low enough resulting in a breakdown. This should be integrated with the aspiration meter mentioned above.
Problem: Career Progression
Careers are not as complex as they used to be in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. In fact, they're so poorly done that when a sim is at their job, away interactions such as "Make Connections" state in the tooltip that they decrease work performance when really they actually just freeze performance! It's so easy to get promotions that it takes away from any challenge.
Fix: Make jobs have chance cards that are actually risky. Make the consequences severe like a demotion or take away a lot of performance. Promotions shouldn't happen so often when requirements are met. Updating the away actions is also needed. Interactions that state they will lower performance should do exactly that.
Problem: Danger
There isn't a whole lot of danger in The Sims 4. Burglars are to this day not present, vampire break-ins are no longer working as they used to. Deaths are no longer accidental and with the number of warnings from the game, it's like death needs to be forced to even happen.
Fix: Adding more lot challenges like "Fire Hazard" to make it easier for lots to catch on fire, a lot challenge for a "High-Risk Area" for often burglar break-ins (or the opposite for those that do not want any burglar break-ins). Being poisoned should also not take 3 days for it to kill a sim when there are so many warnings popping up telling you to get an antidote from the computer. But some deaths, like emotional ones, shouldn't happen so often either. Balance is key.
List of things could add more challenge
#1: burglars would honestly be a great addition that happens during random times. It would make the game feel more challenging
#2: more personality slots, it feels really lackluster being able to choose 3 personalities and at the same time not feeling like they add anything to the game either. Having food preferences feels as well odd to have them as personalities especially when we already have so few personality slots. Lactose intolerant and vegetarian could be in likes and dislikes instead
#3 moodlets, it's very easy for one emotion to decide what emotion the sim is feeling. Their spouse could have died or cheated on them but the sim in question happy emotions would take over the sad emotion
#4 offer parents vacation similar to how they did it in sims 3 generations. It would be fun to let the teens take complete control over the house for a few days
Getting a job is too easy imho. It would be more challenging to attend an interview first (maybe similar to the auditions in Get Famous) and wait for the result.
Bigger lots and no load screen when going from one lot to the next in the same world.
Have more than 8 sims in a household. Another 8 can fit on the right side of screen, it'll make the game more challenging having more sims to play with in one household.
(: