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Is the Sims4 too expenssive? Why?
Rapunzel
Posts: 130 Member
I am one of the players, who aren‘t as satisfied with the game as some of us. The concept of the Sims4 crushed my game style completely and I have lost all enjoyment and interesst in that game. The things which where focused in this title where all things I did only next to my playing.
I suppose that the main goal in the Sims4 was, that more players are able to play the game smoothly. For instance in previous titles you needed a well built computer for GAMERS, no desktop versions. This was not a thing of price, but what‘s actually in that computer. For simsplayers, who haven‘t got such a PC, there were lots of annoying issues - like that the community lots in Sims3 seemed always empty despite the fact that they turned all graphic effects down or that the game was stuttering in the Sims2. For some was the game even unplayable.
This circumstance seems for me even noble and totally comprehensible. I thought that this is, why they changed the graphic to comic style and made the lots smaller. This is, what I found out before the game aired.
I think, that the comic style suits the sims well and that they look adoreable. I really looked forward to that title and was happy about the coming emotions, eventhough I was afraid that my freedom in decorating, building and playing could be affected badly due to unwanted emotions. (pictures, which make flirty for example...)
When the published the create a sim - demo, I was so delighted and pictured the best sims game ever. I created lots of sims and even construct stories in which they would be part. And all the gread pictures of Willow Creek and Oasis Springs...
But, when I saw the new neighbourhood how it really is, it smashed my whole dreams. Everything was just decoration and there isn‘t even offered much space for new houses. A small part of me thought, that maybe they added the option of creating as much neighbourhoods as you like as it was able in the Sims2. Than that fact of no room would be not sooo heavy - eventhough I hate that decoration around the lots a lot!
I am a perfectionist. Since the Sims2 I created lots of neighbourhoods and filled them with life. That‘s was my main pleasure, but I also enjoyed creating sims and connect them with my main family, which I played over generations. I played lots of stories out and mostly I chose one of the children, which I played in the next generation, but put the outer sims not really aside. They got husbands and wifes and children and a own house.
Therefore I was a little annoyed with the unability to connect neighbourhoods in the Sims3, because not every part of the addon was able to be stucked into one hood. I had to decide which addon I want to play the most.
Which I also didn‘t like was the store, because you had to pay for all the addons and weren‘t able to get the whole content. With furniture, hair and so on offered in the store, I was completly fine, but when they put restaurants and ballet studios in there, I was shocked. Mostly because I had to translate the simspoints into real money and some content was worth a whole game...
But all in all the Sims2 and Sims3 were worth the money. Sims4 seems like a not finished version of the game. I am one of the players, which where always fine with the loading screen. That‘s why there was so much content. In Sims2 the loadings screen was due to the lovely things they offered. And they offered a lot of things - and every addon gave us more and more stuff. A new neighbourhood was always nicely built and you always felt that the game made a huge step forward.
In Sims3 you got that open world, although you had to decide which addon you wanted to play. I wasn‘t able to connect with my sims as well as in the sims2, but after the Create a World Tool came out, I was totally on ease with the game. After lots of addons, the game was really cool and inspiring, but it rocked also since day one.
Sims4 threw me back into the times of The Sims. No toddlers, no space. Well, The Sims where a breakthrough back then, but today it felt like they bunched me into the face. They took everything away I loved so dearly. And emotion alone isn‘t what I need for being creative. I want to have my freedom in playing; nothing which is predecorated.
And it doesn‘t help to see the Sims4 as a new stage, which has nothing to do with previous sims games. And I am not happy with „Well, it will be better after addons“. It will, of course. But look how much we get with the new addon. 4 lots and I think 3 jobs. Think about how much chunks of gameplay you have to purchase until the sims4 doesn‘t feel as tiny and contentless as it does now. For me this is a betrayal and nothing else. Like you buy strawberries and the berries you see above are healthy and goodlooking, but when you open the box at home, every single strawberrie underneath is rotten.
The ideas are good, even brilliant, but the outcome isn‘t.
If I buy a game, I want that it rocks from day one, not after I spend hundreds of euros to make it a game, I somehow are able to like.
I would prefeur even a lot a la Sims2 where everything around is just green grass and water in the distance or later on the houses. I don‘t need open neighbourhoods at all, but I want my creativity back. I want to have space, where I can put my simfriends and I want to have clothing and food stores back and later on restaurants, discos and all that stuff.
Why couldn‘t they just keep the things which where good and add the stuff, which makes the game better? Think about Sims2 or Sims3 with emotion? I would have paid even 100€ for that kind of game, but no, we get much less for more money.
For me it's mostly the price. If they would have told us, well, we have thrown this and that out of the window due to a better performence even on old laptops, because we want that more people are able to enjoy the game and have fun with it, BUT we also lowered the price so that it's fair to offer less space for building and playing, than everything would be fine for me. But they rose with the price and limited the space a lot. I actually like the ideas. I even love the basics of the new addon, but when I compare what I get for my money, it's just not enough.
And that's why I am so offensive. I never ever want that to happen again. If they do like that with the next generation, we only will have pregenerated sims in pregenerated houses. (No, they hopefully don't do that. It's just sarcasm) But that's why I want to raise my voice so that they will not dare to limit the game again.
You see, there is a good game play based. I actually like the way the sims interact, but everything around is so uncomplete, like in a beta. I suppose Sims4 will be a good game after lots and lots and lots of addons. And I promise you, there will be a lot of them, because the game has such a low stage for computers, but think about the money every addon costs.
Compered to Sims2 or Sims3 addons, you get nearly nothing for more money. That's my problem. Maybe there are people, who want to have the money to handle that fact quiet relaxed, but it makes me furious.
When I was little, I got 10€ per month and had to pay with it every luxuary I wanted to have. I had to spare a lot of money for Sims2 addons, but there were all worth it.
When I got Sims3, I was older and had a parttime job, but I always thought that the price is high, but definitly okay. Now I actually have a real job and would have no problem to buy me this game. But I am always thinking "Oh, dear, what do I really get for my money? Is it really more than in the previous games or less?"
And for me, it is much less and therefore a rip-off. Should I support such a racket? For me it's defentily a clear no go.
I‘ll stay with Sims3 until the Sims5. Or maybe I will play the sims never ever again...
How much would you pay for the game without regret? I would buy it only for 10€... but EA and Maxis have to earn money for the next attempt, so. Maybe it could be OK somehow...
I suppose that the main goal in the Sims4 was, that more players are able to play the game smoothly. For instance in previous titles you needed a well built computer for GAMERS, no desktop versions. This was not a thing of price, but what‘s actually in that computer. For simsplayers, who haven‘t got such a PC, there were lots of annoying issues - like that the community lots in Sims3 seemed always empty despite the fact that they turned all graphic effects down or that the game was stuttering in the Sims2. For some was the game even unplayable.
This circumstance seems for me even noble and totally comprehensible. I thought that this is, why they changed the graphic to comic style and made the lots smaller. This is, what I found out before the game aired.
I think, that the comic style suits the sims well and that they look adoreable. I really looked forward to that title and was happy about the coming emotions, eventhough I was afraid that my freedom in decorating, building and playing could be affected badly due to unwanted emotions. (pictures, which make flirty for example...)
When the published the create a sim - demo, I was so delighted and pictured the best sims game ever. I created lots of sims and even construct stories in which they would be part. And all the gread pictures of Willow Creek and Oasis Springs...
But, when I saw the new neighbourhood how it really is, it smashed my whole dreams. Everything was just decoration and there isn‘t even offered much space for new houses. A small part of me thought, that maybe they added the option of creating as much neighbourhoods as you like as it was able in the Sims2. Than that fact of no room would be not sooo heavy - eventhough I hate that decoration around the lots a lot!
I am a perfectionist. Since the Sims2 I created lots of neighbourhoods and filled them with life. That‘s was my main pleasure, but I also enjoyed creating sims and connect them with my main family, which I played over generations. I played lots of stories out and mostly I chose one of the children, which I played in the next generation, but put the outer sims not really aside. They got husbands and wifes and children and a own house.
Therefore I was a little annoyed with the unability to connect neighbourhoods in the Sims3, because not every part of the addon was able to be stucked into one hood. I had to decide which addon I want to play the most.
Which I also didn‘t like was the store, because you had to pay for all the addons and weren‘t able to get the whole content. With furniture, hair and so on offered in the store, I was completly fine, but when they put restaurants and ballet studios in there, I was shocked. Mostly because I had to translate the simspoints into real money and some content was worth a whole game...
But all in all the Sims2 and Sims3 were worth the money. Sims4 seems like a not finished version of the game. I am one of the players, which where always fine with the loading screen. That‘s why there was so much content. In Sims2 the loadings screen was due to the lovely things they offered. And they offered a lot of things - and every addon gave us more and more stuff. A new neighbourhood was always nicely built and you always felt that the game made a huge step forward.
In Sims3 you got that open world, although you had to decide which addon you wanted to play. I wasn‘t able to connect with my sims as well as in the sims2, but after the Create a World Tool came out, I was totally on ease with the game. After lots of addons, the game was really cool and inspiring, but it rocked also since day one.
Sims4 threw me back into the times of The Sims. No toddlers, no space. Well, The Sims where a breakthrough back then, but today it felt like they bunched me into the face. They took everything away I loved so dearly. And emotion alone isn‘t what I need for being creative. I want to have my freedom in playing; nothing which is predecorated.
And it doesn‘t help to see the Sims4 as a new stage, which has nothing to do with previous sims games. And I am not happy with „Well, it will be better after addons“. It will, of course. But look how much we get with the new addon. 4 lots and I think 3 jobs. Think about how much chunks of gameplay you have to purchase until the sims4 doesn‘t feel as tiny and contentless as it does now. For me this is a betrayal and nothing else. Like you buy strawberries and the berries you see above are healthy and goodlooking, but when you open the box at home, every single strawberrie underneath is rotten.
The ideas are good, even brilliant, but the outcome isn‘t.
If I buy a game, I want that it rocks from day one, not after I spend hundreds of euros to make it a game, I somehow are able to like.
I would prefeur even a lot a la Sims2 where everything around is just green grass and water in the distance or later on the houses. I don‘t need open neighbourhoods at all, but I want my creativity back. I want to have space, where I can put my simfriends and I want to have clothing and food stores back and later on restaurants, discos and all that stuff.
Why couldn‘t they just keep the things which where good and add the stuff, which makes the game better? Think about Sims2 or Sims3 with emotion? I would have paid even 100€ for that kind of game, but no, we get much less for more money.
For me it's mostly the price. If they would have told us, well, we have thrown this and that out of the window due to a better performence even on old laptops, because we want that more people are able to enjoy the game and have fun with it, BUT we also lowered the price so that it's fair to offer less space for building and playing, than everything would be fine for me. But they rose with the price and limited the space a lot. I actually like the ideas. I even love the basics of the new addon, but when I compare what I get for my money, it's just not enough.
And that's why I am so offensive. I never ever want that to happen again. If they do like that with the next generation, we only will have pregenerated sims in pregenerated houses. (No, they hopefully don't do that. It's just sarcasm) But that's why I want to raise my voice so that they will not dare to limit the game again.
You see, there is a good game play based. I actually like the way the sims interact, but everything around is so uncomplete, like in a beta. I suppose Sims4 will be a good game after lots and lots and lots of addons. And I promise you, there will be a lot of them, because the game has such a low stage for computers, but think about the money every addon costs.
Compered to Sims2 or Sims3 addons, you get nearly nothing for more money. That's my problem. Maybe there are people, who want to have the money to handle that fact quiet relaxed, but it makes me furious.
When I was little, I got 10€ per month and had to pay with it every luxuary I wanted to have. I had to spare a lot of money for Sims2 addons, but there were all worth it.
When I got Sims3, I was older and had a parttime job, but I always thought that the price is high, but definitly okay. Now I actually have a real job and would have no problem to buy me this game. But I am always thinking "Oh, dear, what do I really get for my money? Is it really more than in the previous games or less?"
And for me, it is much less and therefore a rip-off. Should I support such a racket? For me it's defentily a clear no go.
I‘ll stay with Sims3 until the Sims5. Or maybe I will play the sims never ever again...
How much would you pay for the game without regret? I would buy it only for 10€... but EA and Maxis have to earn money for the next attempt, so. Maybe it could be OK somehow...
Post edited by Rapunzel on
6
Comments
TS4 is too expensive for me, because I bought it expecting a continuation of the series and got stuck with a sorry pretender to the throne that gives me migraines. So I really may as well have burned the $80 I spent on the premium version and whatever I spent on the prima guide (I was sure I had missed things in the game, that can't be *all* their is, I thought... turns out... yeah, that is it.) So now I have a pretty book that is totally useless and unhelpful to go with the game that's too bright for me to even launch, not that I'd want to anyway, since I don't enjoy the gameplay. Yay!
Lots of people do like the game, so for them, the game might not be too expensive. But the forum has been downright deserted lately, considering that a new EP was on the brink of release (and now has been released.) I believe they've made a profit, if only because the game was done on the cheap. But I don't think it will stand up as well as 2 or 3, numbers wise or long-term play value wise. That's totally irrelevant to the people who like it. I've certainly liked games that others didn't, like tsm and spore - I still play them. I have no doubt that in some people's minds, ts4 is awesome and will continue to be. But I've also seen a lot of long-time defenders of ts4 become disgruntled and disappointed over time. To me, that doesn't speak well for the future of the game.
I'm definitely not buying anything else until ts5 (and I've been a chronic pre-orderer since ts3 came out.) I won't pre-order, though, and if the quality is as bad as ts4, I won't touch it and won't think twice about it. My devotion to the series has already been broken by ts4. I also wouldn't object if a life sim was made by a company other than EA. I feel no loyalty what so ever to EA after their handling of this, their game breaking patches, their refusal to release any information on whether the game will ever be playable... yeah. Whoever makes the next great life sim will get my money and my business.
Your're speaking out of my soul. By the way, I also liked Spore, although I thought it a little bit better. But I like it still.
€ 60 : 180 = € 0, 33 per hour of enjoyment. To me, that is very, very cheap.
TS4 has many more objects, clothing and interactions compared to TS3 base game. And I payed the same for both, with five years between them. If you account for inflation, TS4 was even cheaper.
TS4 has been of of my entertainment purchases with most value!
I am happy for you.
Although I don't count the inflation, because then the Sims3 addons should have become more expenssive over time. But they didn't.
Maybe they're more objects, but less playable content. I can download lots of custom content without paying one cent for it, but I can't download a real neighbourhood, or less extrem facial expressions, or toddlers or more lots.
But in the end game, Sims 3 would be the most expensive because of the playerbase's demand for more content, as the game was the most successful on its release and throughout its era, which results in a thriving Store microtransactions. Also being the only Sims game with the most amount of DLCs.
Sims 4 never even managed to start its own store.
Right. xD (and hopefully they don't begin with)
But I never spent money in the store.
At first, I was a little disappointed, but I don't play small families anymore. Not since Sims 2. I like to start a groups of roomies and friends off in a bigger house with all of them contributing and then break them out into their own lives as they get to a point where they can fully support themselves.
So, when I started my first household on Sims 4, I started 5 people working and one person sitting at home playing with Writing, Gardening and various other skills. Low and behold, I played with the wood working table and found furniture and décor items that did not show anywhere EXCEPT through crafting. I have more pictures and paintings in my home that were painted by my Sims at different levels, of which most could not be found or bought in build mode, and over one-third of them provide Emotional Auras.
Emotional factors are the MAJOR factor to the cost of the overall game. Too many fail to see the implications of this AI approach being adapted into the Sims. This is some SERIOUS programming and algorithm coding that went into making this the BEST of the Sims games when it comes to independent control and interaction factors. This is both intuitive and intelligent. As an IT/IS guy in real life, I can't help but appreciate how intense this is. There is no other game that takes this approach on the market.
If you only look in Build Mode for your content, and not the gains of Skills, Job/Career gains and Emotional interaction results, as well as all the free patches and expansions that have hit (almost monthly) since the official Launch of Sims 4, they you are only criticizing the game "by its cover", so to speak.
So, basically, YMMV. If you don't like something you've bought -- if it doesn't suit you -- it wasn't worth the money, no matter how many items and animations it has. If you do and it does, it was. There's no objective way to measure whether a game is worth the money it costs, given that one person might give it up after ten hours while another puts hundreds in.
Exactly.
I have a relative who is a software engineer in the gaming industry and has worked in it for the past 15 yrs. He usually supports and defends fellow devs, but he told me before this was ever announced to the public that he can't and won't defend sims 4. He gave it reasons which I won't repeat, but lets just say the emotion system is flawed and has been all along and they released it anyway. It's never going to get better and the weaknesses of the engine used to created the game is already showing and we have but one EP just released today in the USA.
For me the sims 4 is s lost cause and I have washed my hands of it. At this point, I'm not really sure I care if there is even a sims 5 if the same people are going to be working on it. It's clear that the person in charge doesn't share the same vision as the majority if it's player base.
To answer the OP; to me, the game isn't worth the pixels it takes up on my screen.
> The emotions just don't work. It has been proven time and time again in actual play videos posted by various people. I tried it only because I got it as a Christmas gift from my oldest daughter who knew I played sims 2/3 and thought I would like ts 4 as well. I played it for 2 weeks, gave my daughter her money back, and uninstalled it. It's just a shell of what it could be had it started as a single player offline game from the start.
>
> I have a relative who is a software engineer in the gaming industry and has worked in it for the past 15 yrs. He usually supports and defends fellow devs, but he told me before this was ever announced to the public that he can't and won't defend sims 4. He gave it reasons which I won't repeat, but lets just say the emotion system is flawed and has been all along and they released it anyway. It's never going to get better and the weaknesses of the engine used to created the game is already showing and we have but one EP just released today in the USA.
>
> For me the sims 4 is s lost cause and I have washed my hands of it. At this point, I'm not really sure I care if there is even a sims 5 if the same people are going to be working on it. It's clear that the person in charge doesn't share the same vision as the majority if it's player base.
>
> To answer the OP; to me, the game isn't worth the pixels it takes up on my screen.
Well said! And I agree 100%. I feel like they purposely eliminated many different play-styles in favor of the vision they were going for, which has left many loyal players feeling abandoned, (as many have said in this forum.) Despite loving the Sims for so many years, I'm not sure I care about what happens to it anymore - whether there will be a Sims 5 or what happens to the Sims 4 etc. My disappointment in the Sims 4 has really sunk in during the past few months and I am left feeling apathetic. Unfortunately.
Sometimes your creativity is limited where you use it most, but you can use those limitations to inspire new forms of creativity you may never have thought of beforehand.
Good for you, but I am not complaining about the furniture and hair, I am complaining about that I've no choice but to stick with their prebuilt neighbourhood, the view little places to build and go to. I know that emotions are a big deal and hard to program, but I could live without them as I do know. I am still sticking with the Sims3 and don't miss them.
But when I played Sims4, I missed my family play and my freedom of connect Sims a lot. As you probably read in my first post, I can't play my style of playing and therefore the Sims4 aren't worth MY money. (not yours)
Right. For me 24h where enough, for you not. You like that new game style, which main goal seems to play to earn medals like doing quests. I am more the sandbox player, who sticks with one family and makes everything around for them. For me the game is wasted, but for you it's fine. The question is, how many people love the Sims4 as it is and how people not. But nobody here can tell, that knows only EA when they are looking at their sellings and giving backs.
Maybe it will be a big seller then.
Wow... Maybe they will listen know? There are much voices, which are repeting their same complains. They must be fools, if they wouldn't listen to us.
I am no supporter of the emotions. I mean, I don't hate them but I don't need them either.
Awful but the truth.
That's a good tread. A very good one... I love it.
When I tell this myself all the time I'm thinking of Sims4, it will work for sure...It must...it have to.
Has anybody experience with hypnosis?
I forgot to answer you.
Perfect that you have fun to play Sims4, but I and some others have no joy with it. Instead they're griefing and playing Sims3 and Sims2. But yeah, we're playing (a lot sometimes too much).
But what if you spend the double amount of play time on another iteration?
Of course there are standards that show if a game is worth the asking price or not and that is not play time.
I play my RPG games 1-2 times, i spend 40-80 hours on each. I've spent 100 hours on TS4.
So, does this mean i like TS4 more and think the quality is better than most of those? No, i don't. It's just the concept of a simulator that makes me play it longer, since there is no end to the game.
So, i compare it too other simulation games i've played and i spend far more time on any of them, because they are more interesting, have more to offer and a deeper concept.
The Essence
How To Lose Your Ugliness in Ten Generations
Thanks for your point of view. I haven't looked at that from this perspective yet and have to agree completely. I have loved playing Dragon Age Origins a lot, but played it less than the Sims. Not because I don't like it and think that the money would have been spend otherwise better, but because the storyline ended.
If the Sims series was as easy to customize as is Skyrim, however, it would be worth it's base-game price many times over. You listening, EA?
Agreed. Sims 4 (like most PC games) is still amazing value compared to other forms of entertainment.
I wish they would. This post is so dam*n good, it would make a good banner to put into your signature. xD