What Makes You Re-Start? «1234...Next Go

elanorbreton

Being a continual sufferer of re-startitus, I wondered what makes other people quit their games and start all over again?
Do you use the same lots? The same sims?

For me, I can be trundling along quite nicely when I suddenly get new ideas *oh, I should have done such and such* and think the best way to implement said ideas is by starting all over again... it's like a curse! I never get further than a couple of sim years (28 day seasons). I've never reached a 3rd generation.

So I will go back to my 'starter' save where I have set up all my favourite lots - sometimes I will change a couple of lots that I'm bored with or no longer like - and I will mostly play all the same sims in my rotation but with the new ideas implemented. I think I need to switch it up a bit this time!

duhboy2u2

I never really "quit" a game. I save them for later, mostly. That said, its similar to what you say. I'll think, "Oh! I should have done "X" instead of "W"." and I'll start again in a different way. ...Or, I'll decide that the sim(s) I've begun with aren't the ones I need for this story so I'll pop into CAS on a new save to "fix" my mistake. In the case of the latter, I'll usually delete the original family save because it didn't fit my in-head story.

Yautjagirl

I haven't started a new game in more than 2 years. I play rotationally within my main save and I care about all of my sims and builds too much. If I have a new idea I usually either try to incorporate it into one of my existing families or create a new family that I move into my save.

alanmichael1

Ugly heirs make me restart 😆

LeGardePourpre

Take control from the beginning !

New packs add new features, I need to include them to my game.
It's also a good way to clean up the mess caused by the updates. For example the missing tables/chairs caused by Sharing is caring NAP.


Some fixes are only applied to a new game (Missing DJ booth in Windenburg, missing wallpaper in San Myshuno, ...).

Simmingal

Idk used to restart a lot when i get tired of playing my sims but this save is just endless fun so i haven't had that issue for 2+ years

next reasons to restart would be
1. save breaking beyond repair
(less likely now that I don't use mods but still possible)
2. Wanting to make completely different story for sims ive already played
(but i have decided to redirect that passion to playing more sims rather than constantly replaying same ones so i am still very much preoccupied with just playing every sim through once for a while)
3. wanting to rebuild world/lots ive already built
(but ive also decided to just work on completing all worlds all lots in one save now rather than using endless hours on that one favourite lot)

DaniRose2143

I too suffer from re-startitus. Thank you for giving our condition a name.

I often restart because I wasn't fully committed to the story that was forming in my mind as I created a new sim or gave my simself a makeover for that save. When that happens, I know re-startitus is coming because I can't make up my mind what season to even begin in. Then there's the indecision about what world or what lot to start in. That's another sure sign re-startitus is coming.

Going back to my first point, not being committed the story, that is usually because I can't decide what career I want that particular sim to go for. I may start out wanting them to be...a scientist, but then I get the save started and suddenly think no, I want them to be a writer instead. No problem switch careers right? Not for me, because once I start rethinking that, then I start rethinking every other detail, and that brings my OCD into it...and re-startitus. When my OCD gets involved I will usually find something I don't like, normally it's something about the lot I don't like. It just spirals downward from there if I don't just start over from scratch.

crocobaura

I switched computers at some point and started a new game. My other save was a supersim. Now, when we get new packs and can't add some gameplay to current sims because it doesn't fit with their story or just want to explore it separately, I just create new sims.

DaniRose2143

Yautjagirl wrote: »

I haven't started a new game in more than 2 years. I play rotationally within my main save and I care about all of my sims and builds too much. If I have a new idea I usually either try to incorporate it into one of my existing families or create a new family that I move into my save.

I have started playing rotationally with my main save which I've made into a story thread. That has helped put a lid on things. I have gone backwards to an old save point a few times, so I guess you could call that a mild case of acute re-startitus instead of my usual chronic form.

JestTru

I restart often. Sometimes it's bordem with the sims I'm playing. Like their story gets to a point I just don't want to play it anymore. Other times it's because I like getting new families started. Then I tend to start a new save every time there's a new EP to explore the new stuff and new premades.

rudolpha

I never have restarted. I'm a big rotational player and if I don't like the looks of the heirs I do major "plastic surgery" on them. If play gets boring I start something new within the same game. If nothing comes to mind I rotate to another family and let them sit for a bit.

StuffyMarx

I'm pretty sure I've only restarted once since I've had the game (at release in 2014). During lockdown early last year, I thought I'd get back into the Sims again, so I started fresh. I haven't played for a while recently so maybe I could restart again and see how much of a mess I can make.

Blimey, the game is rapidly closing in on ten years old...

NightwalkerArkanis

I re-start very often. Usually, when I return to the Sims from a hiatus, even if I intend to play the same family, I still delete the current one and start from scratch. It's just a personal preference of mine. I have a story to tell, and everytime, I want to start it from the beginning, here is the family, here is their backstory, now let's build a life for them. And if it decides to go in a different direction this time, then so be ia Also when I create a completely new family, I send them into my new save, and take it from there. I like to keep my focus on 1-4 families per save, usually.

I think I keep one really old save since the beginning though. It serves as the experimental save for all my untested whims and idea I don't want to bring into one of my played saves until I've seen the result.

Sorak4

I use the same Sims all the time, restartitis hits me the second marrige and the first child happens for some reason. I kinda prefer playing single Sims, but also just don't like the idea of living alone at the same time.

My restartitis generally has me sometimes playing new Sims on the same save though since I like catching my new couple in the background doing their own thing.

notasmokealarm09

I restarted over the weekend. The neighborhood stories thing killed both parents of a family I like. Which left the teenage daughter to raise her younger brother and sister. I didn't like this, so restarted. And made sure to turn off the deaths part.

SERVERFRA

I kept doing that for 4 years with my favorite Doctor Who household. I'm now just playing a Doctor Who Legacy that's made him now his own Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather/Grandson. I'm doing this until I reach the 12th Doctor Who.
Also, I've noticed that I kept restarting my Darknight Couple (based on Batman & Batgirl) way too many times. So now I'm just going to leave them married & parents to their little girl Robin; I'm even thinking of getting them to have another baby but this time a boy. However, I have to think of another name because having two Robins in one family is silly.
Another time I restart my game is because one of my favorite sims has died from hilarious so to get them back I make sure I don't save so I can just go back to the last save & prevent the death from happening.
FYI: I kind of figured it out how to prevent sims from getting to giddy so their mood doesn't turn into hilarious. I get them some inspired plaques & inspired potions. It seems to help them.

cyncie

I restart when the story I’m telling comes to a satisfying end. If I’m playing a one sim household, that’s usually a few months. If I’m playing a bigger household, it can take years. Right now, I’m playing an entire world, so who knows.

elanorbreton

DaniRose2143 wrote: »

Not for me, because once I start rethinking that, then I start rethinking every other detail, and that brings my OCD into it...and re-startitus.

This sounds exactly like me!

haisin

I have played the same save since I started playing TS4 a bit over three years ago. Lately I have found myself thinking about starting a new save, but I don't want to do it, because I really like my current main families and background sims and it would be too troublesome to move them all over, or even move the main families. And honestly, why start over now? I have worked hard to pick just a couple of playable main families and built stories for the background sims. I'd keep most of the existing lots too.

But I'd like to start a new save because I think a new save might work better. Not that my current save is super buggy. What can I say... the idea of a fresh new save is just tempting I guess I might also be tempted because everything is quite well in my current save and I have good plans how to continue and... maybe things are going too well and I feel like my job is done?

Anyway, I think I won't start a new save yet. Maybe later when I can move my main sims easier. I'd like to use existing sims for a new save, because it's nice to have something familiar to start with.

VeeDub

I've only ever restarted a save once, and that was with my first experience playing a legacy-style family (by my own rules). I ditched the first effort pretty early on because I discovered better ways to achieve what I wanted to do. I still have that save three years later (or rather, a series of "save as" versions of it), but I now rotate to other households as well as the original one, and I find that I need to rotate out to other saves pretty often to prevent myself burning out on that style of play.

As for most of my other saves, if a story isn't working well or if I take a disliking to a sim I made, I don't start over with them. I either incorporate elements of those partly developed tales or characters into other stories or get rid of them entirely. Occasionally I'll go back to an earlier story premise once enough time has passed to let me see it with fresh perspective, but more often I move on to something new. After all, there are infinite stories to be made, and even if I live a thousand years I'd barely scratch the surface, anyway.

wahini2024

I get bored and start over in a new save. It's really not much more complicated than that for me.

TTNsimmer

A big update.

GalacticGal

Queen of Restarts, here. Generally, it's something that totally throws my overarching plotline off of the rails. Sometimes, it's getting a new Pack, such as when Parenthood came out. I restarted with the same Sims once I realized how hard it was to teach Teens values. Better to start them off early. Other times, I lost a key Sim to death. Still other times, when I got wild & crazy and decided to experiment with a new mod. I even set up two saves with the same Sims just in case. That was a huge disaster. In save A, the only sister was abducted from Uni and although her second older brother was a Rock Star of some fame and totally rich, he kept having to pay the ransom and they got no closer to saving her. Seems there was a bug in the mod! In the alternate save B, the mod kept randomly killing my Rock Star and systematically went after his brothers. I uninstalled and started all over again.

Still another time, a couple of kind-hearted players put me onto the way for my Rock Star to earn Accolades for his music! This was worth starting all over again. This save wasn't without it's troubles, however. Turns out the much preferred three-week season was behind the glitches in the Starlight Accolade Show, that sometimes just wouldn't happen. I reluctantly removed it and went to two-week seasons, instead, after starting all over again. Things were going well, but then MWS came out. I wanted my Rock Star and his wife to have the wedding I could never give them. I have that one saved, along with the one where he earned 17 Accolades. (For this one I'm waiting until the Road to Fame mod is updated.

The wedding finally happened, but again, not without glitches. The one prior they did the full slow dance for which I have pictures. In the current save, I've dubbed REDUX, things are going reasonably well. I'm up to Uni, although I've only written and posted through their honeymoon.

I've gotten this family (in the past) up to their six children before things went awry. All of these later attempts are just to get back to that point. Patches are my enemy despite making copies of the save and doing what we're told to do to safeguard it.

But, I'm having a blast!

Don't worry about your restarts. It's a lot like writing a book. If a chapter goes in the wrong direction, you simply rewrite it until you get what you need from it. At least, that's how I view it.

GalacticGal

notasmokealarm09 wrote: »

I restarted over the weekend. The neighborhood stories thing killed both parents of a family I like. Which left the teenage daughter to raise her younger brother and sister. I didn't like this, so restarted. And made sure to turn off the deaths part.

I could do that, too. I lost both Dirk Dreamer and most recently, Thorne Bailey. I never played them, but never expected to lose them, either. Drat the NS!

ModerateOsprey

Been playing the same save since I bought the game on it's release way back whenever it was.

If I get bored then I rotate or add a new sim or a bunch of new sims. As pretty much every sim in the game is now one of mine there is a consistent look and feel across the game.

Now if this was an RPG or an MMO then I have a serious case of restartitus or way too many alts. In FF14 I have to force myself not to do alts because you can do everything on one character. In EVE Online, so many alts!

I love character creators, and well, this game is the top dog there

IronicBeauty77

Having played The Sims since inception I don't think I've ever played a single save longer than second gen. Of course back in Sims 1 there wasn't really generations as we know now. Through all the iterations of Sims I've been more of a world builder and less of a character player. In Sims 3 I really got into game play and began to want generational play but would get bored with the second gen. or an overly convoluted family tree and start over. Having babies in vacation worlds always seemed to break the game for me. With Sims 4 I've certainly played more with actual sims but still want to build the world around the sims first. I'll take weeks building the world and be so "over" with that save by the time I'm done that I have no desire to actually play with the sims. Now I try to build the world as I go. The 'Scenarios' have really helped in that regard. It keeps things from getting too boring while I build the world and actually play with the sims. Now I'm concerned that the save will corrupt on me as I don't want to lose any of my unique characters and, of course, my builds.