I ponder the fact that so many people have a common statement to missing features and basic content that use to be a standard of base games: "Relax, it is only the base game. Wait for the EP/SP."
I think it is counter productive to a community to use this line when it is effectively telling a company "dumb down the initial content as much as you want because we will pay for every little step".
We wouldn't easily accept a brand new car with a nice paint job, but incomplete seats, no truck space and no windshield wipers. We would expect all the same base items needed from the previous version of the same car. Why should we expect less from a new version of a "base game".
Don't get me wrong, I have been a Maxis/EA fan since the original SimCity and SimEarth games, and even wasted a lot of off time on SimTower. I own ever Sim/Sims game since 1993. However, I don't think stepping back 20 years in approach on content is a good approach to making a lasting game.
The new SimCity came out with "online only" and issues, but they fixed most of that with free content.
I think it would be wise of Maxis/EA to put out a fix as soon as possible to fix the constantly re-popping tutorial messages (keep getting the same guides every time I open Build/Buy mode) and other bugs.
I also feel that it would behoove them to put out a free "SP" that adds the following: 1) A few more core jobs that coordinate with Skills (no science jobs -i.e. medical, yet botany goals?) 2) Gradient tilt camera back into core game without having to use an alternative setting - just make sure that quick "overhead button" stays in for both 3) Pools and Basements 4) Fix and add free clothing (why are thigh high stockings not available for a sleep outfit that has garter straps...the only outfit with garter straps) 5) Create A Style along with Color Wheel
I don't feel it is too much to ask. These were major advancements in Sim-tech that have been well love and received and were reasons that many of us were willing to buy another game. This is not a lot to ask.
GOOD: Fast loading (Would still prefer bigger neigbourhoods with seamless travels over the loading). Multi-tasking sims. Hats separated from hair. Walk styles. Better clothes selection than in the demo. Sims doesn't seem to get stuck on objects and what not as much.
BAD: Pretty poor clothes selection in general only ok because you can select everything for every occasion. No option to turn off the tutorial pop-ups? SERIOUSLY? Clothing filters pop back on every time you click on something else. Gets really annoying quick. Bad color sets for... well, pretty much everything... which makes it hard to match stuff and get the look / style you want and you end up compromising all the time. Days / needs poorly balanced compared to how long it takes to satisfy them. Not much time left to do anything else. Slow edge scrolling. No dishwashers?? Holy crap, you guys must need money badly if you had to cut down on that. Is that a mailbox or a UFO?? Seriously I can understand the fancy haircuts, but some of us prefers basic Joe average stuff...
Why not just remove teens since there's no real difference from adults? And how about an option to always show the NEEDS tab, even when you look at inventory or so, there's soo much space and it's annoying to click back and forth all the time.
The world would be a much better place without me... I can't allow that! >:D
I have play 2 times and I have to say ,despite all the bad comments, I was impressed. The loading time is so fast, I love the multitasking action, the build menu is nice (I will have to get use to it) and I love the new ambitions/characters. The only think I love less is the camera... I hope they will do a pack or something for it...
I think people will have to get more familiar with the Sims 4, the map are different and I like it (I think it a reason what the loading time is fast). But I agree in 2014 (and I have waited a long time for this game) we should have the season extension in the game and the ''generation'' * I miss the menu where we could put the amount of time per ''age''.
I hope they will make so changes or at less the first extension should be an extra awesome one!
Been playing sims since them came out, a major addict of the games with all the expansions etc,.. most of the changes over the years have been positive ones that i enjoy very much, I had very high hopes for sims 4 and have a lot of feedback as to why those hopes have not been met, I was also pleasantly surprised in quite a few ways also .. so I think all in all with a little work this game can be the best of the sims yet.
number one as mentioned elsewhere the edge scrolling is broken especially for down, very irritating to me. Please make that a fix asap.
A major thing for me was abilities to color and use textures and I miss more than I can say my wheel, please please bring it back ASAP!
Also, very unhappy that the towns are very small with no large lots, no hospital.. no police department ... if we can have hospital for medical jobs returned, and police for detective line.. I guess emotionally I do not feel safe in a town with no hospital and police station and really want those returned to make me happy:LOL and at least 2 64x64 lots for those huge rambling mansions i like to build ..
I do like the seamless transfer to other towns, but miss the ability to interact with the neighbors, the cars, buses, and walking to a neighbor house without loading .. I do like all the townies walking by my house though, very nice feel to that.
The graphics and artwork are great and I especially love the flowers and rocks between lots .. look so nice, but why is there no grass except for the painted kind, if this was to help game run faster on slower machines may I suggest make it a choice to have all painted or real grass choices for your game for those who prefer it and have higher end machines.
Second I have always played to do the designing, building of homes and lots for the town and done very little with the actual playing of the sims themselves, partly because imo they act like retards who have to be told over n over n over every freakin sim day how to do basic things and i find that frustrating, I would think that anyone with a brain could learn a routine and just freaking do it daily without directions :wink:
So I would like to be able to setup a basic morning routine for my sims, bathroom including all personal hygiene, dressing, then eating breakfast. 2> social with family then leave for work or school on time alone without me having to watch that sim clock:LOL
Another routine that I would like is for when kids come home from school, do their homework, any assigned chores or school activities before playing.
Another reason I did not enjoy playing my sims was because of the actual lack of the emotions and what I want to term as morals or at least consistent behavior. Glad to see that with the new emotional based behavior I have seen a huge improvement in interactions and am actually enjoying more of the playing of sims now.
I do think this emotional behavior needs some tweaking .. for instance some people are just too volatile and inconsistent imo , would like to be able to tone that down quite a bit and have a little more stable and positive traits enhanced. For me at least that would make the emotion based behavior system a lot more enjoyable.
Also, knowing that my sims can die from laughter just scares the heck out of me ... I would like the ability to turn off death by what I want to term dumb stuff :smiley:
I was never a fond fan of the baby in the blanket that had no interactions and I think the interactions for the babies have come a long way in a good way.. I would like to see even more interactions possible though especially ones that involve carrying the baby around and want giving a bath back as its gone (
I also would like to see toddlers brought back asap and give them more interactions if possible please, I do like the new skills and choices for the children it makes them more much more enjoyable imo.
Those are the major things for me so far, as I get more time into the game I am sure more things will come and I will post later about them.
24 hours and other than the edge scrolling the game is very stable and no problems.. good job Maxis!
Copy pasting my comment from the stickied reddit thread, do apologize if these are mentioned before:
"Quality of life suggestion: An interaction that cannot be used by sim autonomy to clean all dishes on the lot regardless of them spoiled or partially eaten. Sometimes social events are a real hassle to clean afterwards, with all that clicking of separate drinks/empty but not spoiled food plates. Perhaps dishes with multiple quantities left that aren't spoiled could be put away into the fridge with the same interaction (Since it seems like the autonomy to put large meals into the fridge from TS3 is gone. Perhaps I'm just being nitpicky. :P) Edit: I've noticed the sims pick up empty plates/cups/glasses when ordered to clean up a dirty plate, but it's a little bit touch-and-go when it comes to the AI determining what should and shouldn't be.
Quality of life suggestion: Add an interaction to have a doorbell on the front door, unfortunately, I find the knocking far too feeble to notice even from a stone's throw away from the front door. (Note: Turning my volume up will only cause temporary/permanent hearing loss, which is never a good thing.. right?)"
Also, the feature in TS3 to gather information on what has been happening in the neighborhood via gossip was quite nice, and trying to find the source as to why a sim who is visiting that is sad is quite irritating. Would be nice to have a few flavor notifications like TS3 to get a better feel of immersion in the world.
New games are supposed to take an existing game and make it better, not go backwards.
What a load of $%$%^$^#^ why have we suddenly been given a product with less game play then sims1.
The graphics do look nice once you're actually in the game, but you can't immerse yourself in them its not a real world that your sim can explore, and the cartoon looking town screen!!!!! the closed little kiddy worlds!!!! 🐸🐸🐸🐸................
It does not matter how many expansion packs you come up with, this base game is @$@#$% and its not going to get any better, there is no control and no editing available, people loved the sims 3 because you could edit, customize and control everything and come up with just about anything your imagination could dream up.
This is a dummed down piece of rubbish for kiddies.
The only saving grace is the sim editor, but even that has issues.
You've moved all the control buttons and spread them all over the screen, oh my, part of the build menu up there.....part of the build menu down here..... were you all on something???? seriously???? did you just move it all for the sake of it, just to have it look diff to sims3??? because it certainly makes no sense whatsoever...
Excuse all the $%#%%'s but I'm really really annoyed. Ive been a sims fan since it first started and this new game is a slap in the face.
The only interest with this game is the interactions between the sims, and for people with no imagination who are only interested in their sims social sides, then they should like this dummed down #$%#$%#.
- Multitasking was definitely a step in the right direction, and as most would say, something that should have been done way before the Sims 4.
-Moodlets are fun to mess around with, it's nice to know I can effect my Sim based on these "Aura's", taking different types of showers/baths, or just socializing through other Sim's.
- Dates. I'm not sure if this was in the Sims 3 or not, I can't recall much from it, as I've never really played too much into it. But Date's are fun in the Sims 4, I find it interesting that you have a certain time limit, and that you're trying to achieve certain goals within the date to try and get different rankings, also as a bonus we get things in our household inventory for achieving a higher status rating. (I usually get Legendary, as it's pretty easy overall).
-Create a Sim. This is probably one of the best character creations we'll see to date (of course not including those Korean Mmorpg's). I love how you designed it, and just said, "You know what? Screw sliders! Just grab and drag!". It's as simplified, or as complex as you want it to be, and it allows for great customization. I'm sure other companies will get behind this idea in the future as well. It's a good idea, at least for the PC.
- Entire room/object movement. This is something that just makes sense, and again is something that should have been introduced a LONG time ago. It's nice that now we can attach chairs to tables, and move the entire set as one piece. I'm also a huge fan of grabbing an entire room, and just being able to move it with everything as is within. Very useful function, although, I can't say I have a need to really move entire rooms, as usually when I'm rebuilding, I'm trying to make something new an inventive. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things I Dislike/Suggestions
- No Weather. I'm honestly not sure why this hasn't been added. I mean it just makes sense to have weather in The Sims. I'm actually trying to recall a Sims game from the PS2, and if it had weather or not. I'm almost positive it did... I remember lightning. Anyways, this is a MUST, and to top off the weather conditions, it could also affect "Moodlets", such as being gloomy, sad, scared, etc, etc, depending on weather conditions.
- Loading Screens. Honestly, this is a huge setback from the Sims 3. The Sims 3 with it's open world was a huge step forward, and now you've taken it back to square one. Whoever decided to put this back into the game needs to be "Slapped Silly" (Ha ha! It's not mean since it's from the Sims Game! =P). But honestly, I don't know if it's too late (I'm guessing it is), but loading screens should be removed, or at least in the same neighborhood, the idea that I have to load over, and over, just to visit another sim within the same district is silly.
- No swimming pools. Why? I get you want to make money with upcoming expansions, and try to nickel and dime people for basic features that should have ALREADY been there. But seriously, huge setback, the Original Sims had swimming for crying out loud. Why decide to make people purchase this in every new Sims game now?
- Limited outfits. Again with the nickel and dime-ing people to death. While I do enjoy the option to change the colors of outfits. It just feels like this game should have a color "Wheel" already. The game needs something like a "Clothing" shop, where players can go down-town to a store district and purchase new clothing through simoleons. Again, I understand the idea behind continuously trying to make money, but in the long run Simoleons becomes useless after a while, we need a different function for it. Shops would be a more then welcome addition in my opinion. We could also stand for some more clothing customization options, such as shirts being sleeveless, or sleeved, short sleeved, or long sleeved, etc, etc. More ways to customize clothing would be awesome. Also, we should be able to put decals on our shirts, pants, etc, along with the option of changing different parts clothing, such as having 3 diff color selections per piece of clothing.
- Auto-Save. I just lost 3 hours worth of work, because a function that "should" be working, isn't. Maybe take another look at how this works. I suggest making the game Auto-Save every 30-45 minutes, whenever you go through a loading screen, and possibly when your Sim(s) get back from work. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall I'm enjoying the Sims 4, enough to buy some expansion packs? Maybe not. I honestly do hate purchasing products with stuff that should have "already" been there, but then being charged and arm and a leg to purchase it.
I'd enjoy The Sims 4 much more if we could see some more customization, and maybe other uses for money other than furniture, such as the suggestion above about clothing, and "Down-Town" stores.
Cons - The game feels a bit to easy at times. There is a lack of group activities and a serve lack of hobbies/hobby items. The world is small, and game feels a bit bland and boring at times.
Pros - Sims can multitask, sims look great when communicating with other sims. Home building is fun as ever(just wish had more items). The game runs VERY smooth.
I am having fun but so looking forward to first expansion pack and store content.
First of all I LOVE the game! I think so far it's the best one yet. I love that when i am in my neighborhood i can see all the back ground houses that make it feel more like a real neighborhood. I love the fact that my sim will NEVER leave the baby on the floor. So the baby being attached to the crib is fine with me (I do miss toddlers but it's fine with out them as well). I love the fact that my teen sims can mess around with their bf/gf sim. Then how the parents can talk to them about consequences of woohoo.. I love the cooking in the game. How we can make our own wedding cake or birthday cakes. How the Parents sims interact with their children now. So pretty much I am enjoying this game.
What i don't like.. I don't like that the lots for houses are small.. I really love to build and with the limited space on the lots its hard. A nice 30x30 lot or 40x40 lot would be great! I mean even if you got a starter home and wanted to add on to it you have to build upstairs because of the small lot you have. It makes alot of sense why there ins't pools now because there really is no room on lots for one..
I also don't like how my girl's last name doesn't change when she gets married. With that also is there an option where you can just move one sim out by a phone or do I always have to split up household? It would be easier if we could just have a sim use his phone/computer to move just himself out or the whole household. All I see now is that the whole household moves when unless you split up household.
As for now those are the only things i can come up with that i don't like.
Taking a short break from playing, I just had to pop over and add my 2 cents. Firstly... it's a GAME. Perhaps I'm too laissez faire but I just take it for what it is. When things start to break, then I'll really start complaining, until then...
I realize we're taking a step back to the drawing board that was Sims 2 but with better graphics.
Yes, the afro does look like a microphone but we've got such talented modders, I'm sure that'll be fixed shortly.
I am a little disappointed that I can't style on the go but I've been spoiled with Sims 3. I'll readjust and, I'm sure, the brilliant devs/gurus (of which I know none personally or online) will be adding things like they did the first time around and we'll be ecstatic when it arrives.
Yes, I'm a little disappointed that we don't have pools or toddlers but see last point. It'll come, I'm sure. They have enough of a fan-base asking for it; they only get pi*sy when the impatient passive-aggressive "fans" start insulting work that they've put years of time into creating which, sometimes, includes severe overtime away from family and friends. (my husband... yeah, I'm grown, is a programmer and daughter's in studying game design, so I get it! Don't hate :P)
On the point of toddlers, I guess a part of me is a little relieved after being hit with twins on the first time around. The cries were realistic enough that my dog perked, ran to my chair to jump up to see where the noise came from. LOL I'll deal with them when they come.
Otherwise, I've been too long away from my game so... everything else is fine!! For now.
- Lack of a 'creature' in the base game. - My Sim still taking an hour to eat/prep a meal. (Scrambled eggs takes 5 minutes to make...) - Teens through Elder not being easily discernible from each other. - Achievements not carrying over from different games. (More annoyances, less "do not like".) - Dead Sims staying in my relationship panel without some means to contact/speak to them while dead. (Or rather, the fact that their friendship/romantic interest bars decay while in this state.) - Pr-determined color combinations for clothing/items. - Pointless feel to the Reward Store - Lack of ability to disable the 'promotion requirements' if you wished. (For those who are task orientated it is great. But storytelling wise... why would the musical recluse have 10 friends?) - How easy it is to manipulate emotional states. (For me, at least.) - Energy boost from coffee still being non-existent. (How about shorter drink time and a notable energy boost going into effect after you drink it?) - Objects breaking very quickly. (Leave the stereo on all sim night and it breaks... What?) - Objects used from the inventory are not returned to the inventory when the Sim is done with it at their home lot. - Objects used on the home lot not being put back where the Sim got it from. (Why is the Slabet in the bathroom now?! O_O) - All Sim info related menus being inaccessible while a Sim is 'away'. (Certain ones I would like to be able to look through. Job, Simology, and Aspirations are the main three.) - Despite having Social Interactions... Not meeting people at work/school. (Especially when you get something like the "U are cute" note from the school chance cards and you confront the person...) - Guest Sims not going home when all player Sims are away from the house. - Lack of a family tree. (Being able to trace a Sim back was a very nice touch in previous games.) - Not being able to make a house with different levels on the same level. (For example, house on a foundation but the kitchen is not. (In other words at ground level. Without cheats, if it is even possible.)
What I do like:
- Multi-tasking. - Romance Bar. - Child specific aspirations. - How aspirations work now. - Infants being sent to the daycare automatically when both parents are at work. - Not having to wait on a babysitter to take care of children. - Hypnofrog. - The changes to Build Mode. (Including the height placement.) - CAS takes some getting used to, but it falls in this group. - The changes/work done with Pregnancy. (love it) - Utilities being turned off if you do not pay bills. - Mini rewards from career promotions.
Suggestions...
Make sure Expansion/Stuff packs actually have some meat to them. Do not strip them to the bone with a few scraps and place most of the developed content as micro-transactions. Especially at the prices we saw with Sims 3 Store items.
Overall thoughts...
I enjoy the game a lot, despite a few bumps due to bugs and the scratching of certain features (pools/ghosts). Game play for Sims 4 is refreshing. I was pleasantly surprised. The micro-transaction path however is killing my interest in the games. I am looking forward to seeing what the expansions/stuff packs hold... but will be keeping my game 'off-line'. The moment Sims4 goes the route of Sims3 (showing micro-store items in-game) I am likely to uninstall the game and move away.
I've had the game for less than a day and I have mixed feelings about it. The best way I can describe how it feels to me is putting TS3 & 4 side by side is like... 3 is an intricate dollhouse kit and 4 is a fisher price or little tykes dollhouse. The second dollhouse is bright and colorful and cute with so many adorable pieces and it's solid and durable and easy to set up. But it's geared more toward children and people without the know-how (or computer power?) to work with the more "mature", complex and intricate dollhouse. This is a very oversimplified and bare bones version of how I feel about it. When you read it, it probably wouldn't seem like I'm having fun with 4, but I actually am.
I haven't played long enough to give an analysis on all the details of the game. Overall, I like the objects in buy mode. Build mode is great! My sims are cute. The male's even hot! lol I expected sims to be more cartoony, but it all depends on the facial features they're given. I'm happy with the skin, much more so than when I got TS3 base game. The first few sim days I played seemed too short and hectic. Too much decay, not enough time to explore, takes so long to make friends or build skills! The limited range of travel without having to trigger the loading screen can feel stifling, but that's just going to take some getting used to after playing 3 for so long.
Overall, a fun game, cute sims with much more interesting and fun personalities and reactions than in 3, kids are awesome, amazing build mode, love the buy objects (and hope for more to become available soon!), looking forward to EP's to build on the base game. I'm disappointed that EA chose to go slightly backwards so that preschoolers and people with ten year old laptops can play I'm interested to see where the game goes from here. I don't regret the purchase at all and will continue playing and hoping for some exciting and challenging additions to the base game in the near future.
Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. - Maya Angelou
Well let's see... I love it, and I love that there is no more lagging, screen dropping, freezing, having to reset Sims and the other Sims or have to move objects, so a lot that they could have fixed in Sims 3, which for whatever reason, they never bothered to, is fixed.
But, outside of the obvious, here are the things they need to focus on correcting or patching, or however the programming teams want to do them, which would make the game more fun.
More job selection, (but I know this is a base game, and this will get better with time, it is still very limited. Too many hard challenges in order to progress. I.E. you have not had time to make a lot of friends yet, and all of a sudden you cannot get a raise because you need 5 of them?
Too much time working and not enough time to explore, and that is the problem right there, nothing to explore! One park, one nightclub a museum and a library and gym, that is it. Way to much is missing to explore or discover. Unlocking stuff as you progress is great, but good stuff takes a heck of a long time to unlock.
Have to get married because being single is completely to hard to do on your own, never any money to upgrade or buy fun stuff. Your too busy all day just meeting raise pre-qualifiers. At least in the old sims you did not have to make a huge production out of leveling a skill. My first Sim 4 character is a cook, and she just cooks all day every day. As a chef she has to do outrageous stuff like 20 large meals and 5 dinner parties, or you do not level. And they mean NOW, or your sim, if they are ambitious, get super depressed because they are not leveling.
I am sorry guys, but the pools were really no big deal, I can count the times on one hand I bothered with swimming, and they will probably bring it back with ocean swimming when they do an expansion, like Island Paradise Adventures, etc. I mention it because everyone seems to be mad about that being missed.
Color wheel!!! OMG. How boring is the world going to be in a few months when all our homes and sims all look exactly alike.
Choice of partners are limited, example... let us say your into a gym rat kinda guy, if you don't make one to marry, they is probably, maybe one in the whole world. Most of the characters I am friends with and or have seen, are fat (no offense), too skinny, or just plainly unattractive as all heck. I know the world is not full of beautiful people, but not everyone is morbidly obese and or insane. And when you marry someone, you cannot even change or tweak their looks a bit, just hair color and facial hair.
No doorbells, or locks, so people just waltz in, not all the time, but I have had people just walk in that I do not even know. And with no doorbell, unless I missed a chime or something you had to add, unless your camera is in the right direction you do not know if anyone is visiting you.
Biggest problem is the struggle with the camera, I make LP's. I have no idea how I am going to execute movie like LP's with such a clumsy camera, you have to focus out to refocus back in on something different and rotations are extremely wide, so you find yourself playing from a distance or constantly messing with your camera angles.
When you marry, you have no choice, but to either live with all their friends (and then suddenly you have a house of 5) or you live at your own place because your partner brings nothing to the income table. Doesn't even have a small headstart on their Aspirations. So you have to start from scratch with them too, I had hoped this would be different in Sims 4.
Having to constantly bring up the needs table which covers a good size of screen space, to know what their issues are. I would have liked it better when it was small and always at the ready like they have with the left side of the sims 4 screen.
One big thing I don't understand was the need to use 3 whole sections just for housing, when you only get one choice of a house in the beginning. All the others are taken and way to expensive anyway, and why would you go there anyway if there is nothing to do, but maybe visit a friend. I think it would have been better to make one large living section with mixed housing and used the other 2 whole sections, devoted to exploration. Checking out someone's house is not exploring, sorry, but it is not that interesting. You couldn't afford to live there anyway, unless you marry someone old or just rich. And then you have to live with them, can't kick em out. lol
Although the furniture is pretty decent looking, most of it is very plain and the color choices you can pick from are subtle and do not make much of a difference, again, a color wheel or pattern wheel would have been great.
Building houses is SOOOO much easier, if you can afford it, but it is way better than Sims 3.
Need weather, at least some rain.
Anyway, that is it for now, I apologize for picking apart just the things to improve, but the question was asked. Over all I do like the game, but for what you got, it is not worth $70. The extra stuff they gave you for the more expensive game version, I have not even been able to touch yet, because it is too expensive.
I hope all these issues help the programming team, if they decide to address them.
I just had my first opportunity to play the game for 3 hours yesterday and so far this is what I have to say.
[*] What you liked
I love that when your sims go out on a date you can actually watch them interact
I love the new skill/recipe books and the fact that you don't have to go to the bookstore and purchase them (yeah, yeah - that's because there are no cars or bookstore...Got it but still love it anyways)
I personally love the new behaviors/moods
[*] What you didn't like
Nothing in the game so far...I can live without toddlers. The only thing I don't like is that the people who pre-ordered or bought the digital purchase did not get the guide thrown in as a download without additional cost
[*] Suggestions?
Give the people who pre-ordered and/or ordered via Origin the opportunity to get a free copy of the guide
Hurry up and get cars
[*] Overall thoughts?
So far I am very impressed with the game itself. I just don't hope it takes a whole year for an expansion to come out.
I am not impressed with this game. You guys left out alot of stuff that we all enjoyed from 2 and 3. I feel you guys reverted back to 1 and 2 when they leave to go somewhere. Why? Did people say they liked it when the screen changed like that. I liked that they could walk outside and just keep walking. Why is there not many houses or room for that matter in the lots? I like a lot of room. I like having a lot of houses so you can make a lot of families. Also, why no pool, cars or buses? I'm pretty sure everyone is at the same with this one. We all loved that in the games. Why are they gone? And I just found out that there are no toddlers. Granted other people didn't care for that. But I did. Now maybe I'm the only one so maybe you won't ever change that, but I liked it. I liked that you had to teach them stuff. In all honesty I'm probably not going to play until another expansion comes out and hopefully most of this stuff will return. If not I think you guys will lose a lot of customers.
I was pleasantly surprised that i like how the sims look. I liked the new behaviors building houses styled options
What you didn't like No dishwashers: Come on really? no car, toddlers or pools: I was upset about that prior to release NO STORY PROGRESSION OPTION!!: This is huge for me. I don't want to go back to having to play each family members house the same number of days so they age at the same rate. I liked having larger families and being able to play them however i wanted and they all grew old together. Without having to switch to all 6 kids houses constantly.. bugs game crashing alot(don't know if it was something with the pc as it wasn't mine!)
Suggestions? please put back in story progression at least as an on/off option.
Overall thoughts?
I think the sims 4 could have been a good game if EA had held off release for a while, the games needs more tweaking, more stuff to do, missing content listed above and story progression is a must in my opinion.
I have played the Sims since the very beginning and I have to say this game is extremely disappointing.
Here is why:
No open world, you can't walk within your neighborhood (here we are back to the original sims where there was no open world and we had to wait for the game to load with your destination of travel within the same town...wow talk about really going backwards!)
The babies are not even seen in the cradle
Babies look deformed; brought the baby home from hospital, could not see the baby in cradle and then when my sim picked her up the body is stretched; it's like when you download bad sim skins and it transfers over to newborns in the sims3
Lots of glitches; could not get the open packet of seeds to release after being selected even though it open the package of seeds
There are no areas such as Town Hall, Shopping stores, police station, schools, etc.
Some areas for fishing are not accessible
Sims won't do queued items and no matter how much you click on fishing on some locations the sim can't and that goes for checking out rocks and other items, it just won't work
Camera is awful; I prefer the way it has been for years, not this new way of click and hold; can't just move the mouse around screen.
No dishwasher or trash compressor
Sims go to work and you can't even see them as they travel to work; they just disappear from the front of your house
Married sims take on the last name of the first sim you create; therefore, don't create a female first or you're stuck with her last name and there is nothing you can do about it because there is no town hall to change it!
No services for babysitter....really????
Sims look very cartoony and if your mouse is on them, there is a white line around them like a cartoon game
I could go on and on; but I'm sure others have experienced the same or worse issues. Very disappointed and am going to call EA and request a refund, this was not worth $69.99. This is not what we were promised; they should have informed players that this game is NOT an open world game and the worlds are VERY limited and you don't get to see your seem travel between buildings, neighbors, or work. This is the worst part for me. I have all the Sims games and never complained, even when there were issues, I just went along with it; but this is so not acceptable, this is like the first Sims, no open world and just lots of zoning if you want to go somewhere...boring!
Just wanting to add a few comments to what I posted on pg 1.
From what I'm reading online, gaming reviewers aren't that impressed with this version of the Sims either. You know this reminds me of the roll out of Windows 8.
It was great for some users and a disaster for others.
Yes, there are some interesting features in this game, and quite a few that I like, however there is no excuse for the sloppiness of TS4. From the terrible camera controls, ( again,why do I have to use arrow keys in order to move backward ( in build), along with using the controls on the top of the screen, AND THE MOUSE.) ,
to the random lack of content ( a microwave, but no dishwasher?), a bar with no pool table, TV's with no gaming equipment?
If I remember correctly, TS3 did include a few basics in the base game. Heck, at least they put in a town.
I hate the closed world, but if stuck with a closed world, wasn't it possible to give Simmers at least a larger world, with the ability to add our own lots?
I believe that the developers were anxious to break new ground, not just for the revenue it would bring, but from the satisfaction of bringing something new and exciting to the gaming world. The problem here guys is that you rolled it out too soon ( my opinion). It would have been better to stay in development for another year, perhaps longer, so that you could have fully explored your new creation, and fleshed it out with those all important details that dedicated simmers have come to expect. Again, some people " love, ...it", and others not so much.
Remember, for many part of the draw of TS3 was the ability to create: designs, worlds, you name it. With TS3, I would purchase expansion packs and whatever you had out there, and create my own worlds, or download one or two from the exchange.
My hope was that this game would incorporate the best of TS3, along with your new platform. Apparently it didn't.
Finally, Maxis, EA, it isn't just about bringing in new players, it's also about retaining your following. But, who knows whether or not pleasing the long standing audience was part of the agenda. Hope so
!I don't know about anyone else but I EXTREMELY hate SIMS4 Having been a simser since "Sims" 1 I was excited for 4 to come out to be let down disappointed and angered at the price ! and the complete lack of NEW innovation and creativity! The town view is Cartoonish and lack luster, The build mode is reminiscent of the first PlayStation or Nintendo Sims games ! The entire process is too mind numbing to control it all! AND $59.99 !?!?!?!?!??!!? COME ON!!!???? 🐸🐸🐸🐸!!!!!!!! I would love to cram it in the face of the designers and say START OVER !!!! and give me my MONEY BACK!!!! BOOOOOO ORIGIN AND EA GAMES SHAME ON YOU CREATORS, EA, and ORIGINS!
Things I like: The tools for create a sim and building lots are an improvement. The game seems rather stable and plays well. The differences that emotions make.
Things I don't like: Very slimmed down game (almost does not feel like a complete game). Limited jobs and aspirations. Worlds seem very bare.
Suggestions: Add more jobs. Add more lots. More clothes and decorations. Just add some more! lol.
Overall thoughts: This seems like the foundation of a good game. Don't like that it seems like we will have to pay hundreds of $ to get some variety. To me it just seems like its missing a lot. I do look forward to seeing what it might become.
* The emotions are awesome * Love the group conversation ability * Walking style is cute and fun * The ability to truly modify your sim to your hearts content
Things I dislike:
* HATE the neighborhood layout * The no pools and cars and just a given * Game play is too basic...gets boring fast. (this might be a result of being spoiled from TS3 expansions) * Also hate that we can't add plots!
Honestly, I'm hoping that the expansions come out soon and alleviate the issues presented.
- LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that you can breastfeed the babies. Amazing addition in my opinion!
- I like that the sims look so freaking amazing. I mean, really, they look so cool. The effort here was clearly put primarily into the customizations in the actual sim characters, and the effort shows for sure.
- I also like the change in how the babies look. They are no longer confined to those stupid freaking blankets lol. They are cute in a little onsie and wiggle around in their crib. I also like the pregnancies better overall. The bellies are bigger, cuter, and more realistic in size. I also feel like my sim gained pregnancy weight in the rest of her body and not just in her belly. If you've ever been pregnant ladies, we ALL know that you don't just gain weight in the tummy area...so that's a plus.
- I love that I don't have to click on my sim to access the cellphone. It's perfect where it is. I also love that I don't have to go through as much to do simple things from the phones, I can just click the phone icon and I get a nice neat list of the options. Perfect because the phone situation really annoyed me in TS3.
- The sims all run down the street and walk around, I love this. My sims friends come and knock on the door randomly, are walking or jogging outside, etc. It's just a nice and much needed change.
2. What you didn't like
- HATE that I can't do much outside of the bassinet with the baby. There are no cribs that I saw, just the one bassinet. And they can't do anything really with the babies other than stand in front of the bassinet and coo at them, bounce them, etc. No baby swing, jumparoo, anything like that. Maybe these are to come in an expansion though.
- Not to beat this dead horse, but come on, seriously - no toddlers? Did you really think that would fly with us simmers? Weren't we asking for MORE to do with children, babies, toddlers, etc. This seems like a major step backwards. Not what I was hoping for at all. :(
- The needs all take forever to fill. Eating takes so long because they are talking and pausing, which I like in some ways and think is cool, but the eating process takes forever. Fulfilling most of the needs takes a long time. Maybe this is to make it realistic, who knows.
- I have to say that while the sims look AMAZING, the furniture and walls, etc. look like crap. I literally hate how fake some of the objects look. The stove looks fake, almost looks like it was drawn directly from TS2. In TS3 I loved building houses and decorating them, but now I feel like I can't do that at all. The emphasis was clearly on the sims, their personalities, needs, emotions, etc. This is nice but I feel like it shouldn't come at the expense of one of the best parts of the game. I know lots of people loved building and posting the houses and lots they created. Now I feel there is much less custom ability in that sense and everything looks downgraded in graphic quality except for the actual sims. This makes me sad because I play almost primarily to build the lots, it's my favorite part. But it's not my favorite part anymore. Now I focus on the sims, which isn't bad and was probably intentional, just a bit disappointing.
Comments
"Relax, it is only the base game. Wait for the EP/SP."
I think it is counter productive to a community to use this line when it is effectively telling a company "dumb down the initial content as much as you want because we will pay for every little step".
We wouldn't easily accept a brand new car with a nice paint job, but incomplete seats, no truck space and no windshield wipers. We would expect all the same base items needed from the previous version of the same car. Why should we expect less from a new version of a "base game".
Don't get me wrong, I have been a Maxis/EA fan since the original SimCity and SimEarth games, and even wasted a lot of off time on SimTower. I own ever Sim/Sims game since 1993. However, I don't think stepping back 20 years in approach on content is a good approach to making a lasting game.
The new SimCity came out with "online only" and issues, but they fixed most of that with free content.
I think it would be wise of Maxis/EA to put out a fix as soon as possible to fix the constantly re-popping tutorial messages (keep getting the same guides every time I open Build/Buy mode) and other bugs.
I also feel that it would behoove them to put out a free "SP" that adds the following:
1) A few more core jobs that coordinate with Skills (no science jobs -i.e. medical, yet botany goals?)
2) Gradient tilt camera back into core game without having to use an alternative setting - just make sure that quick "overhead button" stays in for both
3) Pools and Basements
4) Fix and add free clothing (why are thigh high stockings not available for a sleep outfit that has garter straps...the only outfit with garter straps)
5) Create A Style along with Color Wheel
I don't feel it is too much to ask. These were major advancements in Sim-tech that have been well love and received and were reasons that many of us were willing to buy another game. This is not a lot to ask.
Fast loading (Would still prefer bigger neigbourhoods with seamless travels over the loading).
Multi-tasking sims.
Hats separated from hair.
Walk styles.
Better clothes selection than in the demo.
Sims doesn't seem to get stuck on objects and what not as much.
BAD:
Pretty poor clothes selection in general only ok because you can select everything for every occasion.
No option to turn off the tutorial pop-ups? SERIOUSLY?
Clothing filters pop back on every time you click on something else. Gets really annoying quick.
Bad color sets for... well, pretty much everything... which makes it hard to match stuff and get the look / style you want and you end up compromising all the time.
Days / needs poorly balanced compared to how long it takes to satisfy them. Not much time left to do anything else.
Slow edge scrolling.
No dishwashers?? Holy crap, you guys must need money badly if you had to cut down on that.
Is that a mailbox or a UFO?? Seriously I can understand the fancy haircuts, but some of us prefers basic Joe average stuff...
Why not just remove teens since there's no real difference from adults?
And how about an option to always show the NEEDS tab, even when you look at inventory or so, there's soo much space and it's annoying to click back and forth all the time.
I think people will have to get more familiar with the Sims 4, the map are different and I like it (I think it a reason what the loading time is fast). But I agree in 2014 (and I have waited a long time for this game) we should have the season extension in the game and the ''generation'' * I miss the menu where we could put the amount of time per ''age''.
I hope they will make so changes or at less the first extension should be an extra awesome one!
number one as mentioned elsewhere the edge scrolling is broken especially for down, very irritating to me. Please make that a fix asap.
A major thing for me was abilities to color and use textures and I miss more than I can say my wheel, please please bring it back ASAP!
Also, very unhappy that the towns are very small with no large lots, no hospital.. no police department ... if we can have hospital for medical jobs returned, and police for detective line.. I guess emotionally I do not feel safe in a town with no hospital and police station and really want those returned to make me happy:LOL and at least 2 64x64 lots for those huge rambling mansions i like to build ..
I do like the seamless transfer to other towns, but miss the ability to interact with the neighbors, the cars, buses, and walking to a neighbor house without loading .. I do like all the townies walking by my house though, very nice feel to that.
The graphics and artwork are great and I especially love the flowers and rocks between lots .. look so nice, but why is there no grass except for the painted kind, if this was to help game run faster on slower machines may I suggest make it a choice to have all painted or real grass choices for your game for those who prefer it and have higher end machines.
Second I have always played to do the designing, building of homes and lots for the town and done very little with the actual playing of the sims themselves, partly because imo they act like retards who have to be told over n over n over every freakin sim day how to do basic things and i find that frustrating, I would think that anyone with a brain could learn a routine and just freaking do it daily without directions :wink:
So I would like to be able to setup a basic morning routine for my sims, bathroom including all personal hygiene, dressing, then eating breakfast. 2> social with family then leave for work or school on time alone without me having to watch that sim clock:LOL
Another routine that I would like is for when kids come home from school, do their homework, any assigned chores or school activities before playing.
Another reason I did not enjoy playing my sims was because of the actual lack of the emotions and what I want to term as morals or at least consistent behavior. Glad to see that with the new emotional based behavior I have seen a huge improvement in interactions and am actually enjoying more of the playing of sims now.
I do think this emotional behavior needs some tweaking .. for instance some people are just too volatile and inconsistent imo , would like to be able to tone that down quite a bit and have a little more stable and positive traits enhanced. For me at least that would make the emotion based behavior system a lot more enjoyable.
Also, knowing that my sims can die from laughter just scares the heck out of me ... I would like the ability to turn off death by what I want to term dumb stuff :smiley:
I was never a fond fan of the baby in the blanket that had no interactions and I think the interactions for the babies have come a long way in a good way.. I would like to see even more interactions possible though especially ones that involve carrying the baby around and want giving a bath back as its gone (
I also would like to see toddlers brought back asap and give them more interactions if possible please, I do like the new skills and choices for the children it makes them more much more enjoyable imo.
Those are the major things for me so far, as I get more time into the game I am sure more things will come and I will post later about them.
24 hours and other than the edge scrolling the game is very stable and no problems.. good job Maxis!
"Quality of life suggestion: An interaction that cannot be used by sim autonomy to clean all dishes on the lot regardless of them spoiled or partially eaten. Sometimes social events are a real hassle to clean afterwards, with all that clicking of separate drinks/empty but not spoiled food plates. Perhaps dishes with multiple quantities left that aren't spoiled could be put away into the fridge with the same interaction (Since it seems like the autonomy to put large meals into the fridge from TS3 is gone. Perhaps I'm just being nitpicky. :P)
Edit: I've noticed the sims pick up empty plates/cups/glasses when ordered to clean up a dirty plate, but it's a little bit touch-and-go when it comes to the AI determining what should and shouldn't be.
Quality of life suggestion: Add an interaction to have a doorbell on the front door, unfortunately, I find the knocking far too feeble to notice even from a stone's throw away from the front door. (Note: Turning my volume up will only cause temporary/permanent hearing loss, which is never a good thing.. right?)"
Also, the feature in TS3 to gather information on what has been happening in the neighborhood via gossip was quite nice, and trying to find the source as to why a sim who is visiting that is sad is quite irritating. Would be nice to have a few flavor notifications like TS3 to get a better feel of immersion in the world.
New games are supposed to take an existing game and make it better, not go backwards.
What a load of $%$%^$^#^ why have we suddenly been given a product with less game play then sims1.
The graphics do look nice once you're actually in the game, but you can't immerse yourself in them its not a real world that your sim can explore, and the cartoon looking town screen!!!!! the closed little kiddy worlds!!!! 🐸🐸🐸🐸................
It does not matter how many expansion packs you come up with, this base game is @$@#$% and its not going to get any better, there is no control and no editing available, people loved the sims 3 because you could edit, customize and control everything and come up with just about anything your imagination could dream up.
This is a dummed down piece of rubbish for kiddies.
The only saving grace is the sim editor, but even that has issues.
You've moved all the control buttons and spread them all over the screen, oh my, part of the build menu up there.....part of the build menu down here..... were you all on something???? seriously???? did you just move it all for the sake of it, just to have it look diff to sims3??? because it certainly makes no sense whatsoever...
Excuse all the $%#%%'s but I'm really really annoyed. Ive been a sims fan since it first started and this new game is a slap in the face.
The only interest with this game is the interactions between the sims, and for people with no imagination who are only interested in their sims social sides, then they should like this dummed down #$%#$%#.
- Multitasking was definitely a step in the right direction, and as most would say, something that should have been done way before the Sims 4.
-Moodlets are fun to mess around with, it's nice to know I can effect my Sim based on these "Aura's", taking different types of showers/baths, or just socializing through other Sim's.
- Dates. I'm not sure if this was in the Sims 3 or not, I can't recall much from it, as I've never really played too much into it. But Date's are fun in the Sims 4, I find it interesting that you have a certain time limit, and that you're trying to achieve certain goals within the date to try and get different rankings, also as a bonus we get things in our household inventory for achieving a higher status rating. (I usually get Legendary, as it's pretty easy overall).
-Create a Sim. This is probably one of the best character creations we'll see to date (of course not including those Korean Mmorpg's). I love how you designed it, and just said, "You know what? Screw sliders! Just grab and drag!". It's as simplified, or as complex as you want it to be, and it allows for great customization. I'm sure other companies will get behind this idea in the future as well. It's a good idea, at least for the PC.
- Entire room/object movement. This is something that just makes sense, and again is something that should have been introduced a LONG time ago. It's nice that now we can attach chairs to tables, and move the entire set as one piece. I'm also a huge fan of grabbing an entire room, and just being able to move it with everything as is within. Very useful function, although, I can't say I have a need to really move entire rooms, as usually when I'm rebuilding, I'm trying to make something new an inventive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things I Dislike/Suggestions
- No Weather. I'm honestly not sure why this hasn't been added. I mean it just makes sense to have weather in The Sims. I'm actually trying to recall a Sims game from the PS2, and if it had weather or not. I'm almost positive it did... I remember lightning. Anyways, this is a MUST, and to top off the weather conditions, it could also affect "Moodlets", such as being gloomy, sad, scared, etc, etc, depending on weather conditions.
- Loading Screens. Honestly, this is a huge setback from the Sims 3. The Sims 3 with it's open world was a huge step forward, and now you've taken it back to square one. Whoever decided to put this back into the game needs to be "Slapped Silly" (Ha ha! It's not mean since it's from the Sims Game! =P). But honestly, I don't know if it's too late (I'm guessing it is), but loading screens should be removed, or at least in the same neighborhood, the idea that I have to load over, and over, just to visit another sim within the same district is silly.
- No swimming pools. Why? I get you want to make money with upcoming expansions, and try to nickel and dime people for basic features that should have ALREADY been there. But seriously, huge setback, the Original Sims had swimming for crying out loud. Why decide to make people purchase this in every new Sims game now?
- Limited outfits. Again with the nickel and dime-ing people to death. While I do enjoy the option to change the colors of outfits. It just feels like this game should have a color "Wheel" already. The game needs something like a "Clothing" shop, where players can go down-town to a store district and purchase new clothing through simoleons. Again, I understand the idea behind continuously trying to make money, but in the long run Simoleons becomes useless after a while, we need a different function for it. Shops would be a more then welcome addition in my opinion. We could also stand for some more clothing customization options, such as shirts being sleeveless, or sleeved, short sleeved, or long sleeved, etc, etc. More ways to customize clothing would be awesome. Also, we should be able to put decals on our shirts, pants, etc, along with the option of changing different parts clothing, such as having 3 diff color selections per piece of clothing.
- Auto-Save. I just lost 3 hours worth of work, because a function that "should" be working, isn't. Maybe take another look at how this works. I suggest making the game Auto-Save every 30-45 minutes, whenever you go through a loading screen, and possibly when your Sim(s) get back from work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall I'm enjoying the Sims 4, enough to buy some expansion packs? Maybe not. I honestly do hate purchasing products with stuff that should have "already" been there, but then being charged and arm and a leg to purchase it.
I'd enjoy The Sims 4 much more if we could see some more customization, and maybe other uses for money other than furniture, such as the suggestion above about clothing, and "Down-Town" stores.
Pros - Sims can multitask, sims look great when communicating with other sims. Home building is fun as ever(just wish had more items). The game runs VERY smooth.
I am having fun but so looking forward to first expansion pack and store content.
What i don't like..
I don't like that the lots for houses are small.. I really love to build and with the limited space on the lots its hard. A nice 30x30 lot or 40x40 lot would be great! I mean even if you got a starter home and wanted to add on to it you have to build upstairs because of the small lot you have. It makes alot of sense why there ins't pools now because there really is no room on lots for one..
I also don't like how my girl's last name doesn't change when she gets married. With that also is there an option where you can just move one sim out by a phone or do I always have to split up household? It would be easier if we could just have a sim use his phone/computer to move just himself out or the whole household. All I see now is that the whole household moves when unless you split up household.
As for now those are the only things i can come up with that i don't like.
YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC8D-qr5zK1MQehcwlCE06ew
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Otherwise, I've been too long away from my game so... everything else is fine!! For now.
- Lack of a 'creature' in the base game.
- My Sim still taking an hour to eat/prep a meal. (Scrambled eggs takes 5 minutes to make...)
- Teens through Elder not being easily discernible from each other.
- Achievements not carrying over from different games. (More annoyances, less "do not like".)
- Dead Sims staying in my relationship panel without some means to contact/speak to them while dead.
(Or rather, the fact that their friendship/romantic interest bars decay while in this state.)
- Pr-determined color combinations for clothing/items.
- Pointless feel to the Reward Store
- Lack of ability to disable the 'promotion requirements' if you wished.
(For those who are task orientated it is great. But storytelling wise... why would the musical recluse have 10 friends?)
- How easy it is to manipulate emotional states.
(For me, at least.)
- Energy boost from coffee still being non-existent.
(How about shorter drink time and a notable energy boost going into effect after you drink it?)
- Objects breaking very quickly.
(Leave the stereo on all sim night and it breaks... What?)
- Objects used from the inventory are not returned to the inventory when the Sim is done with it at their home lot.
- Objects used on the home lot not being put back where the Sim got it from.
(Why is the Slabet in the bathroom now?! O_O)
- All Sim info related menus being inaccessible while a Sim is 'away'.
(Certain ones I would like to be able to look through. Job, Simology, and Aspirations are the main three.)
- Despite having Social Interactions... Not meeting people at work/school.
(Especially when you get something like the "U are cute" note from the school chance cards and you confront the person...)
- Guest Sims not going home when all player Sims are away from the house.
- Lack of a family tree.
(Being able to trace a Sim back was a very nice touch in previous games.)
- Not being able to make a house with different levels on the same level.
(For example, house on a foundation but the kitchen is not. (In other words at ground level. Without cheats, if it is even possible.)
What I do like:
- Multi-tasking.
- Romance Bar.
- Child specific aspirations.
- How aspirations work now.
- Infants being sent to the daycare automatically when both parents are at work.
- Not having to wait on a babysitter to take care of children.
- Hypnofrog.
- The changes to Build Mode.
(Including the height placement.)
- CAS takes some getting used to, but it falls in this group.
- The changes/work done with Pregnancy. (love it)
- Utilities being turned off if you do not pay bills.
- Mini rewards from career promotions.
Suggestions...
Make sure Expansion/Stuff packs actually have some meat to them. Do not strip them to the bone with a few scraps and place most of the developed content as micro-transactions. Especially at the prices we saw with Sims 3 Store items.
Overall thoughts...
I enjoy the game a lot, despite a few bumps due to bugs and the scratching of certain features (pools/ghosts). Game play for Sims 4 is refreshing. I was pleasantly surprised. The micro-transaction path however is killing my interest in the games. I am looking forward to seeing what the expansions/stuff packs hold... but will be keeping my game 'off-line'. The moment Sims4 goes the route of Sims3 (showing micro-store items in-game) I am likely to uninstall the game and move away.
I haven't played long enough to give an analysis on all the details of the game. Overall, I like the objects in buy mode. Build mode is great! My sims are cute. The male's even hot! lol I expected sims to be more cartoony, but it all depends on the facial features they're given. I'm happy with the skin, much more so than when I got TS3 base game. The first few sim days I played seemed too short and hectic. Too much decay, not enough time to explore, takes so long to make friends or build skills! The limited range of travel without having to trigger the loading screen can feel stifling, but that's just going to take some getting used to after playing 3 for so long.
Overall, a fun game, cute sims with much more interesting and fun personalities and reactions than in 3, kids are awesome, amazing build mode, love the buy objects (and hope for more to become available soon!), looking forward to EP's to build on the base game. I'm disappointed that EA chose to go slightly backwards so that preschoolers and people with ten year old laptops can play
Well let's see... I love it, and I love that there is no more lagging, screen dropping, freezing, having to reset Sims and the other Sims or have to move objects, so a lot that they could have fixed in Sims 3, which for whatever reason, they never bothered to, is fixed.
But, outside of the obvious, here are the things they need to focus on correcting or patching, or however the programming teams want to do them, which would make the game more fun.
More job selection, (but I know this is a base game, and this will get better with time, it is still very limited.
Too many hard challenges in order to progress. I.E. you have not had time to make a lot of friends yet, and all of a sudden you cannot get a raise because you need 5 of them?
Too much time working and not enough time to explore, and that is the problem right there, nothing to explore! One park, one nightclub a museum and a library and gym, that is it. Way to much is missing to explore or discover. Unlocking stuff as you progress is great, but good stuff takes a heck of a long time to unlock.
Have to get married because being single is completely to hard to do on your own, never any money to upgrade or buy fun stuff. Your too busy all day just meeting raise pre-qualifiers. At least in the old sims you did not have to make a huge production out of leveling a skill. My first Sim 4 character is a cook, and she just cooks all day every day. As a chef she has to do outrageous stuff like 20 large meals and 5 dinner parties, or you do not level. And they mean NOW, or your sim, if they are ambitious, get super depressed because they are not leveling.
I am sorry guys, but the pools were really no big deal, I can count the times on one hand I bothered with swimming, and they will probably bring it back with ocean swimming when they do an expansion, like Island Paradise Adventures, etc. I mention it because everyone seems to be mad about that being missed.
Color wheel!!! OMG. How boring is the world going to be in a few months when all our homes and sims all look exactly alike.
Choice of partners are limited, example... let us say your into a gym rat kinda guy, if you don't make one to marry, they is probably, maybe one in the whole world. Most of the characters I am friends with and or have seen, are fat (no offense), too skinny, or just plainly unattractive as all heck. I know the world is not full of beautiful people, but not everyone is morbidly obese and or insane. And when you marry someone, you cannot even change or tweak their looks a bit, just hair color and facial hair.
No doorbells, or locks, so people just waltz in, not all the time, but I have had people just walk in that I do not even know. And with no doorbell, unless I missed a chime or something you had to add, unless your camera is in the right direction you do not know if anyone is visiting you.
Biggest problem is the struggle with the camera, I make LP's. I have no idea how I am going to execute movie like LP's with such a clumsy camera, you have to focus out to refocus back in on something different and rotations are extremely wide, so you find yourself playing from a distance or constantly messing with your camera angles.
When you marry, you have no choice, but to either live with all their friends (and then suddenly you have a house of 5) or you live at your own place because your partner brings nothing to the income table. Doesn't even have a small headstart on their Aspirations. So you have to start from scratch with them too, I had hoped this would be different in Sims 4.
Having to constantly bring up the needs table which covers a good size of screen space, to know what their issues are. I would have liked it better when it was small and always at the ready like they have with the left side of the sims 4 screen.
One big thing I don't understand was the need to use 3 whole sections just for housing, when you only get one choice of a house in the beginning. All the others are taken and way to expensive anyway, and why would you go there anyway if there is nothing to do, but maybe visit a friend. I think it would have been better to make one large living section with mixed housing and used the other 2 whole sections, devoted to exploration. Checking out someone's house is not exploring, sorry, but it is not that interesting. You couldn't afford to live there anyway, unless you marry someone old or just rich. And then you have to live with them, can't kick em out. lol
Although the furniture is pretty decent looking, most of it is very plain and the color choices you can pick from are subtle and do not make much of a difference, again, a color wheel or pattern wheel would have been great.
Building houses is SOOOO much easier, if you can afford it, but it is way better than Sims 3.
Need weather, at least some rain.
Anyway, that is it for now, I apologize for picking apart just the things to improve, but the question was asked. Over all I do like the game, but for what you got, it is not worth $70. The extra stuff they gave you for the more expensive game version, I have not even been able to touch yet, because it is too expensive.
I hope all these issues help the programming team, if they decide to address them.
Bye for now
I just had my first opportunity to play the game for 3 hours yesterday and so far this is what I have to say.
[*] What you liked
I love that when your sims go out on a date you can actually watch them interact
I love the new skill/recipe books and the fact that you don't have to go to the bookstore and purchase them (yeah, yeah - that's because there are no cars or bookstore...Got it but still love it anyways)
I personally love the new behaviors/moods
[*] What you didn't like
Nothing in the game so far...I can live without toddlers. The only thing I don't like is that the people who pre-ordered or bought the digital purchase did not get the guide thrown in as a download without additional cost
[*] Suggestions?
Give the people who pre-ordered and/or ordered via Origin the opportunity to get a free copy of the guide
Hurry up and get cars
[*] Overall thoughts?
So far I am very impressed with the game itself. I just don't hope it takes a whole year for an expansion to come out.
I was pleasantly surprised that i like how the sims look.
I liked the new behaviors
building houses
styled options
What you didn't like
No dishwashers: Come on really?
no car, toddlers or pools: I was upset about that prior to release
NO STORY PROGRESSION OPTION!!: This is huge for me. I don't want to go back to having to play each family members house the same number of days so they age at the same rate. I liked having larger families and being able to play them however i wanted and they all grew old together. Without having to switch to all 6 kids houses constantly..
bugs
game crashing alot(don't know if it was something with the pc as it wasn't mine!)
Suggestions?
please put back in story progression at least as an on/off option.
Overall thoughts?
I think the sims 4 could have been a good game if EA had held off release for a while, the games needs more tweaking, more stuff to do, missing content listed above and story progression is a must in my opinion.
I have played the Sims since the very beginning and I have to say this game is extremely disappointing.
Here is why:
No open world, you can't walk within your neighborhood (here we are back to the original sims where there was no open world and we had to wait for the game to load with your destination of travel within the same town...wow talk about really going backwards!)
The babies are not even seen in the cradle
Babies look deformed; brought the baby home from hospital, could not see the baby in cradle and then when my sim picked her up the body is stretched; it's like when you download bad sim skins and it transfers over to newborns in the sims3
Lots of glitches; could not get the open packet of seeds to release after being selected even though it open the package of seeds
There are no areas such as Town Hall, Shopping stores, police station, schools, etc.
Some areas for fishing are not accessible
Sims won't do queued items and no matter how much you click on fishing on some locations the sim can't and that goes for checking out rocks and other items, it just won't work
Camera is awful; I prefer the way it has been for years, not this new way of click and hold; can't just move the mouse around screen.
No dishwasher or trash compressor
Sims go to work and you can't even see them as they travel to work; they just disappear from the front of your house
Married sims take on the last name of the first sim you create; therefore, don't create a female first or you're stuck with her last name and there is nothing you can do about it because there is no town hall to change it!
No services for babysitter....really????
Sims look very cartoony and if your mouse is on them, there is a white line around them like a cartoon game
I could go on and on; but I'm sure others have experienced the same or worse issues. Very disappointed and am going to call EA and request a refund, this was not worth $69.99. This is not what we were promised; they should have informed players that this game is NOT an open world game and the worlds are VERY limited and you don't get to see your seem travel between buildings, neighbors, or work. This is the worst part for me. I have all the Sims games and never complained, even when there were issues, I just went along with it; but this is so not acceptable, this is like the first Sims, no open world and just lots of zoning if you want to go somewhere...boring!
What a big let down EA :'(
From what I'm reading online, gaming reviewers aren't that impressed with this version of the Sims either. You know this reminds me of the roll out of Windows 8.
It was great for some users and a disaster for others.
Yes, there are some interesting features in this game, and quite a few that I like, however there is no excuse for the sloppiness of TS4. From the terrible camera controls, ( again,why do I have to use arrow keys in order to move backward ( in build), along with using the controls on the top of the screen, AND THE MOUSE.) ,
to the random lack of content ( a microwave, but no dishwasher?), a bar with no pool table, TV's with no gaming equipment?
If I remember correctly, TS3 did include a few basics in the base game. Heck, at least they put in a town.
I hate the closed world, but if stuck with a closed world, wasn't it possible to give Simmers at least a larger world, with the ability to add our own lots?
I believe that the developers were anxious to break new ground, not just for the revenue it would bring, but from the satisfaction of bringing something new and exciting to the gaming world. The problem here guys is that you rolled it out too soon ( my opinion). It would have been better to stay in development for another year, perhaps longer, so that you could have fully explored your new creation, and fleshed it out with those all important details that dedicated simmers have come to expect. Again, some people " love, ...it", and others not so much.
Remember, for many part of the draw of TS3 was the ability to create: designs, worlds, you name it. With TS3, I would purchase expansion packs and whatever you had out there, and create my own worlds, or download one or two from the exchange.
My hope was that this game would incorporate the best of TS3, along with your new platform. Apparently it didn't.
Finally, Maxis, EA, it isn't just about bringing in new players, it's also about retaining your following. But, who knows whether or not pleasing the long standing audience was part of the agenda. Hope so
SHAME ON YOU CREATORS, EA, and ORIGINS!
The tools for create a sim and building lots are an improvement.
The game seems rather stable and plays well.
The differences that emotions make.
Things I don't like:
Very slimmed down game (almost does not feel like a complete game).
Limited jobs and aspirations.
Worlds seem very bare.
Suggestions:
Add more jobs.
Add more lots.
More clothes and decorations.
Just add some more! lol.
Overall thoughts:
This seems like the foundation of a good game. Don't like that it seems like we will have to pay hundreds of $ to get some variety. To me it just seems like its missing a lot. I do look forward to seeing what it might become.
* The emotions are awesome
* Love the group conversation ability
* Walking style is cute and fun
* The ability to truly modify your sim to your hearts content
Things I dislike:
* HATE the neighborhood layout
* The no pools and cars and just a given
* Game play is too basic...gets boring fast. (this might be a result of being spoiled from TS3 expansions)
* Also hate that we can't add plots!
Honestly, I'm hoping that the expansions come out soon and alleviate the issues presented.
- LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that you can breastfeed the babies. Amazing addition in my opinion!
- I like that the sims look so freaking amazing. I mean, really, they look so cool. The effort here was clearly put primarily into the customizations in the actual sim characters, and the effort shows for sure.
- I also like the change in how the babies look. They are no longer confined to those stupid freaking blankets lol. They are cute in a little onsie and wiggle around in their crib. I also like the pregnancies better overall. The bellies are bigger, cuter, and more realistic in size. I also feel like my sim gained pregnancy weight in the rest of her body and not just in her belly. If you've ever been pregnant ladies, we ALL know that you don't just gain weight in the tummy area...so that's a plus.
- I love that I don't have to click on my sim to access the cellphone. It's perfect where it is. I also love that I don't have to go through as much to do simple things from the phones, I can just click the phone icon and I get a nice neat list of the options. Perfect because the phone situation really annoyed me in TS3.
- The sims all run down the street and walk around, I love this. My sims friends come and knock on the door randomly, are walking or jogging outside, etc. It's just a nice and much needed change.
2. What you didn't like
- HATE that I can't do much outside of the bassinet with the baby. There are no cribs that I saw, just the one bassinet. And they can't do anything really with the babies other than stand in front of the bassinet and coo at them, bounce them, etc. No baby swing, jumparoo, anything like that. Maybe these are to come in an expansion though.
- Not to beat this dead horse, but come on, seriously - no toddlers? Did you really think that would fly with us simmers? Weren't we asking for MORE to do with children, babies, toddlers, etc. This seems like a major step backwards. Not what I was hoping for at all. :(
- The needs all take forever to fill. Eating takes so long because they are talking and pausing, which I like in some ways and think is cool, but the eating process takes forever. Fulfilling most of the needs takes a long time. Maybe this is to make it realistic, who knows.
- I have to say that while the sims look AMAZING, the furniture and walls, etc. look like crap. I literally hate how fake some of the objects look. The stove looks fake, almost looks like it was drawn directly from TS2. In TS3 I loved building houses and decorating them, but now I feel like I can't do that at all. The emphasis was clearly on the sims, their personalities, needs, emotions, etc. This is nice but I feel like it shouldn't come at the expense of one of the best parts of the game. I know lots of people loved building and posting the houses and lots they created. Now I feel there is much less custom ability in that sense and everything looks downgraded in graphic quality except for the actual sims. This makes me sad because I play almost primarily to build the lots, it's my favorite part. But it's not my favorite part anymore. Now I focus on the sims, which isn't bad and was probably intentional, just a bit disappointing.