@echowever thanks for making the post. Some of those hairs are just adorable on the young ones. I've bookmarked it and while visiting with hubby today I will start the download process if that daggum hospital internet works.
Good news, we have a rehab and all the md's just have to sign off that he is ready to go (he is more than ready) so cross fingers, and hope he will go in next few days, today even would be awesome!!
Wow. I haven't been tracking this. I'm glad to hear he's going home.
Hi, guys. This is going to be lengthy, so bear with me. First, I want to say, I've been watching this forum for awhile. I am also a family player, and I've been remarkably disappointed and frustrated by the Sims 4. The response is often: why not just play the Sims 3? Answer: My sims 3 game, became so unwieldy and unstable, with long load times despite efforts to the contrary.. that it's just not playable anymore. So, I eagerly awaited the new game.
My disappointment started before the game even came out. The choice to do away with CAST in favor of the 32-bit architecture meant automatically we'd be dealing with more of a Sims2-like structure. Both EA and custom content would need to have individual recolors again.. which doesn't just limit options for building, but means adding file size with each color. Additionally, as far as I understand it, this put an cap on how much of the machine's resources could be used.. so not taking advantage if players had additional RAM, etc. So to clarify, in **every way except the emotional gameplay aspect and some of the looks of the game, this was going to be a Sims 2 environment.**
Additionally, I found that when running the game, it still has a rather significant leak. I watch during the running game.. and see the ram useage going up. I use a ram cleaner regularly.. and after leaving the game running (I can only play for short intervals, so it runs in the background), it spools up my ram to the point where the cleaner can free up 1.3 GB at a time. I've noticed when I don't run the cleaner, the game eventually crashes to desktop. I've tried to be very careful about keeping a clean game, and vetting any (well-organized) custom content (a trick that was a necessity in Sims 3). So, while there's still a chance it could be something else... the core performance issues are nearly the same as I saw in every other Sims to date: leaky, and burgeoning.. even before a half-dozen expansions have come out.
In exchange for this business-as-usual issue, I have found the game very limiting. Essentially, I don't play anymore without cheating. The forced small-option linear gampeplay is boring and repetitive. Although I realize the game is meant to imply some sort of freedom of choice, to actually play the game as written, you have only a few options to keep your sim mood-happy enough to get through your days. I did very much like the idea of going to work with my sims.. but the gameplay is frustrating at times... too repetitive, again. Too few options. And of course, too few careers in general.
And finally, to the point of this specific forum: the lack of family gameplay is horrible. If I may, let me put this in broader terms: I think of simulators as an opportunity. They can be another way to learn about empathy, just as movies and more traditional narratives are. I think that the Sims, as it was originally envisioned (i.e. a more robust, reconstruct-able version of a doll house) gives all sorts of possibilities for this. To be fair, I know there is an audience that uses the game as a venting system: constructing tortures and deaths for their sims. However, even that, I think is a teaching tool, a kind of counterexample. Me, I'm a utopia player; utopias don't exist, so I'm happy to construct towns where everybody has a decent job, a family and a nice house. That is my way of playing virtual people: in a way, I make hopeful worlds.. which I know are a form of escapism from the worlds that actually exist.. which are harder, crueler and often inherently unfair.
This is where I fundamentally disagree with this idea brought forth by the recent Rachel Franklin interview: the interviewer shruggingly made reference to the idea that this is not meant to be "real life". (Yeah, thanks for letting us in on that, because as gamers we have *no idea that reality is separate from gaming*.) However, this can be a way to tell narratives. And narratives, to get all psych-and-lit-theory for a moment, can teach us, can entertain us, and can even change us and the way we see the world. Making a game that includes simulation allows us to learn a little, even if that learning (in this case) is somewhat superficial. For example: friends and pets are hard work. The more you have, the more time you need to spend on them, because they have their own needs, just as you do. Another example: not all careers demand the same types of skills and investment. And now for the big one, in my opinion: family also requires investment.
In previous versions of the game, this seemed to be an understood.. as did the idea that playing a simulator is about simulating experiences, not-limited-to-but-including, those of adulthood: bills to pay, kids to care for, life to run... not just emo interactions with other sims. It strikes me as the height of irony that a game designed theoretically based on emotional interactions does not seem to have an emotional center at all. Emotions are externalized, objectified.. such that using objects or others to attain emotions is the idea. What's more, I can't think of any more emotionally barren then simply throwing random parties over and over, or going out with other sims, so that once out, you can further objectify something environmental/interpersonal to gain some emotional buff. Quite frankly, it's thin, remarkably linear, and boring as hell.
So, to help with the telemetry, just in case anybody of import actually *does* read this: as a frustrated family utopia player, this is how I play now. First, I make young sims or I use a premade family. I turn aging off and extend lifespans. I find these people jobs, and build them a nice house. When they're stable and employed, I marry them (if they aren't already) and they have a baby (or more, if fertile). If they are a same-sex couple, they marry and adopt as many kids as their household will hold. AND THEN I MOVE ON TO A NEW HOUSE. Why? Because I am still hoping. Because playing with babies as just-barely objects, who then age up into mostly-homework-doing kids is depressing. Because there are parts of this game about interaction with an emotional core environment, that of FAMILY, that are still missing.
We have traded a lot. We traded an open world, endless build possibilities (we really do need more lots), and larger *theoretically more efficient* architecture**.. for a game of endless parties. And the party, for many of us, has been over for awhile now.
Please fix it. Find the emotional center of this game that made it a worldwide success. Because at least for now, you're still the only game in town.
Sincerely, fleshapple.
PS- I would also like to say thank you to the designers and developers of the sims 3-- you guys really got it. And someday, I may just give up on this thing (even now, I play only sporadically.. it's too frustrating) and re-clean my sims 3 game and reboot it. You guys did, for the most part, an amazing job. I would also like to thank the posters in this forum.. who have diligently tried to help players like me be heard. Thanks for all your time and attention. Best wishes to all of you.
@fleshapple what a wonderful post customers like you absolutely prove that the assertion from Peter Moore COO at EA that sims players aren't intelligent enough to know their own minds and the difference between expansion content and the core of the game within the base is totally and utterly unfounded.
Actually I would like to venture that if he was in a room with some of us and heard our feedback with an open mind that he would learn that sims fans are amongst the most intelligent, articulate and create gamers that I believe EA have access to. That should be embraced by EA and used to drive further success, not overlooked and squandered by them.
@fleshapple wonderful post!! I agree so much with what you said, especially the emotions. I want the emotions to be from the sims and their lives, not from the painting or vase on the wall. I had so much hope for the Sims 4 that it would be better than Sims3 regarding the glitches and errors and memory leaks and play...but it is not. I do need to find out about that ram cleaner you mentioned. Never heard of that in all my exploration of things to help play the game.
Anyone seen the new stuff pack? I LOVE IT. Halloween is my favorite, and the new decor and costumes will go amazing in one of my current stories. I'm so excited. I need to plan for all the stuff.
Anyone seen the new stuff pack? I LOVE IT. Halloween is my favorite, and the new decor and costumes will go amazing in one of my current stories. I'm so excited. I need to plan for all the stuff.
Sorry. I just can't join your enthusiasm.
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
@Echowever: I´m a Sims 4 player and still like to come here.
@KillerSynth: I´m glad you like the Halloween stuff pack. I won´t buy any more content until toddlers are announced and I´m not into Halloween that much but the stuff pack seems nicely done.
Post edited by 83bienchen on
Now now EA, don't be stinking up our lovely lavender bath with your shopping fart. - My TS4 mods - Gallery ID: 83bienchen
Anyone seen the new stuff pack? I LOVE IT. Halloween is my favorite, and the new decor and costumes will go amazing in one of my current stories. I'm so excited. I need to plan for all the stuff.
Its nice to see your excited and when you get it some pics would be nice.....
Its personally not my cup of tea without seasons, and at my current disappointment ive put myself on a ban all my money is going to DA dlc. But it would be lovely to see how your sims are enjoying the stuff.
Anyone seen the new stuff pack? I LOVE IT. Halloween is my favorite, and the new decor and costumes will go amazing in one of my current stories. I'm so excited. I need to plan for all the stuff.
Its nice to see your excited and when you get it some pics would be nice.....
Its personally not my cup of tea without seasons, and at my current disappointment ive put myself on a ban all my money is going to DA dlc. But it would be lovely to see how your sims are enjoying the stuff.
Thanks! I'll try to get some pictures up. Been busy playing. I agree it would go better with seasons but since I enjoy Halloween so much it's a must have for me. Hope you can share some pictures of your sims with me, i enjoy your stories.
I agree. I don't see where anyone has been unwelcoming or hostile to Sims 4 players. @sparkfairy1 has put in a lot of effort to make this thread welcome and friendly to all family play fans, and the usual participants in the thread have been respectful to all.
So, the new stuff pack. I'm sad because I love Halloween, it's one of my favorite holidays. I love the family activities involved with this season, and I play that out both in Sims 2, and in greater degree (thanks to Seasons) in Sims 3. I'm sad because it seems like it's just another party in an already party-heavy game. The logical person in my says, well it's a stuff pack so you can't expect much for $10. But then again, I'd like some stuff to do that is other than partying. And having it involve one of my favorite holidays makes me feel yet again like I'm left out of the fun. Though I don't know why it bugs me so much because it's just not fun to me. Ugh, so frustrated.
I'm still a (very occasional) Sims 4 player and I've been made to feel nothing but welcome on this thread, on the two previous occasions I've posted. I spend most of my time building and I'm fairly sure this iteration is sinking. This Spooky pack and the next EP look like the last cash-grabs before the plug is pulled. ANOTHER type of party! Well I signed the pledge, it won't be hard to stick to.
Anyone seen the new stuff pack? I LOVE IT. Halloween is my favorite, and the new decor and costumes will go amazing in one of my current stories. I'm so excited. I need to plan for all the stuff.
Its nice to see your excited and when you get it some pics would be nice.....
Its personally not my cup of tea without seasons, and at my current disappointment ive put myself on a ban all my money is going to DA dlc. But it would be lovely to see how your sims are enjoying the stuff.
Thanks! I'll try to get some pictures up. Been busy playing. I agree it would go better with seasons but since I enjoy Halloween so much it's a must have for me. Hope you can share some pictures of your sims with me, i enjoy your stories.
Ahh thanks I shall hopefully play again soon but my little girl has had a few restless nights so im having a break to catch up on some sleep as im knackered. But when i do play i will post some more.
I agree. I don't see where anyone has been unwelcoming or hostile to Sims 4 players. @sparkfairy1 has put in a lot of effort to make this thread welcome and friendly to all family play fans, and the usual participants in the thread have been respectful to all.
I agree i have on occassions put up s4 pics, mainly when i first joined the thread and i was welcome, though my s4 pics were more experimenting with play styles etc. And I love @marcellala ugly to pretty pics, though sadly i havent seen any resently and i loved @Gruffman pics.
Everyone here does well to support each other no matter the game, i personally love the diversity of games in this thread.
I checked out the Spooky pack. I love holidays and all the stuff associated with them. I fill my houses with all the junk in RL and in game. I love the candy thing with the hand in it. We have something like that in RL and it smacks at ya when you try to get candy and plays spooky music. Great diet aid. Anyways, not buying it since I don't own the game, but, would be tempted if I wasn't boycotting.
I'm with you @KevWalker I love Halloween. But four times in that advert they mentioned parties and it just annoyed me so much. It's like there isn't anything else in life but parties which of course isn't true. Give me a solid base and I'll add, but I'm not into a party simulator and that's what this seems like so far.
I find halloween meh! I was always made to have a halloweem birthday party as a kid because mum loves the holiday. Now im older i always go through the motions more so now that i have a daughter so she can enjoy it.
Im back, I see I have missed a few messages on here and I took a break from The Sims today only to come home and watch the Spooky Stuff trailer, and needless to say I am not impressed
I'm just sad that they're making people shell out money for holiday content when it was free last year. And a full $10 at that.
Yeah, you're getting interactive items, but I still don't see carved pumpkins (that, of course, cause moodlets because EVERYTHING MUST AFFECT YOUR MOOD) and candy bowls as worth that amount of money. It's been pre-established that you can always go online to find hair and outfits that you may want because there are tens of hundreds of people all over the globe constantly modding things. Plus, I was really irritated seeing the ghosts wandering around wearing pumpkins on their heads because ghosts are culled SO OFTEN, there won't be enough ghosts to actually cause that to happen unless you use mods.
I enjoy festive things being for free. I don't quite know why, but it's like a sign of good will. And, if rumors are true, there's another stuff pack already on the way with...modern stuff. Because whyyyy not. Huh? Family-themed stuff? HA, NO. Wouldn't it have been nice if children had been given more to do with this pack? Go trick-or-treating WITHOUT load screens! Play in some leaves! Shove candy into your little child face, get really hyper, then get really sick! Go to school in costume because it's a Halloween party at school (though I don't know how this would be implemented in hindsight; the holiday/seasons system from TS3 doesn't exist anymore...)!
I'm not disappointed because I had a strong feeling this wasn't going to be free. I knew.
No, I'm just kind of...saddened. If you're excited about this pack, good on you! Be excited! But I'm not.
New Halloween stuff pack doesn't move me too much. I really like holiday themed content (even if down-under in Australia Halloween is a bit of a non-event), but they are the kinds of things that I would class as icing and decorations on the top of your well-established, balanced and well-rounded cake.
I do not consider the Sims 4 as ready to have that kind of "fluff" added to the game - even though it is fun, and I'm sure lots of people will enjoy it, and I'm sure lots of wonderful players are excited! - I would much rather see some more basic-type things come first (Ahem, cars maybe?)
For example, I think a Halloween stuff pack would be a really fun release after Seasons have been added to the game. Those big key ingredients to the cake are then complimented by the fun $10 add-ons.
In other news, I have finally started to play The Sims again after a break of about 3 months I just got too depressed by everything to play for a while, but now I am back in TS3 and having a fun time
I grabbed some custom facial sliders to try and get some different looking sims to the others I have had (over the 4 years I've been playing this game!) and also some custom careers to try out and add freshness to the game. My sims just had their first baby boy, so back to raising him today!
Comments
That is the cutest picture!
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Family tree is there, it just doesn't work with culling right now
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Wow. I haven't been tracking this. I'm glad to hear he's going home.
I'm glad you can make use of that hair
Under the Christmas tree! So cute!
First, I want to say, I've been watching this forum for awhile. I am also a family player, and I've been remarkably disappointed and frustrated by the Sims 4. The response is often: why not just play the Sims 3? Answer: My sims 3 game, became so unwieldy and unstable, with long load times despite efforts to the contrary.. that it's just not playable anymore. So, I eagerly awaited the new game.
My disappointment started before the game even came out. The choice to do away with CAST in favor of the 32-bit architecture meant automatically we'd be dealing with more of a Sims2-like structure. Both EA and custom content would need to have individual recolors again.. which doesn't just limit options for building, but means adding file size with each color. Additionally, as far as I understand it, this put an cap on how much of the machine's resources could be used.. so not taking advantage if players had additional RAM, etc. So to clarify, in **every way except the emotional gameplay aspect and some of the looks of the game, this was going to be a Sims 2 environment.**
Additionally, I found that when running the game, it still has a rather significant leak. I watch during the running game.. and see the ram useage going up. I use a ram cleaner regularly.. and after leaving the game running (I can only play for short intervals, so it runs in the background), it spools up my ram to the point where the cleaner can free up 1.3 GB at a time. I've noticed when I don't run the cleaner, the game eventually crashes to desktop. I've tried to be very careful about keeping a clean game, and vetting any (well-organized) custom content (a trick that was a necessity in Sims 3). So, while there's still a chance it could be something else... the core performance issues are nearly the same as I saw in every other Sims to date: leaky, and burgeoning.. even before a half-dozen expansions have come out.
In exchange for this business-as-usual issue, I have found the game very limiting. Essentially, I don't play anymore without cheating. The forced small-option linear gampeplay is boring and repetitive. Although I realize the game is meant to imply some sort of freedom of choice, to actually play the game as written, you have only a few options to keep your sim mood-happy enough to get through your days. I did very much like the idea of going to work with my sims.. but the gameplay is frustrating at times... too repetitive, again. Too few options. And of course, too few careers in general.
And finally, to the point of this specific forum: the lack of family gameplay is horrible. If I may, let me put this in broader terms: I think of simulators as an opportunity. They can be another way to learn about empathy, just as movies and more traditional narratives are. I think that the Sims, as it was originally envisioned (i.e. a more robust, reconstruct-able version of a doll house) gives all sorts of possibilities for this. To be fair, I know there is an audience that uses the game as a venting system: constructing tortures and deaths for their sims. However, even that, I think is a teaching tool, a kind of counterexample. Me, I'm a utopia player; utopias don't exist, so I'm happy to construct towns where everybody has a decent job, a family and a nice house. That is my way of playing virtual people: in a way, I make hopeful worlds.. which I know are a form of escapism from the worlds that actually exist.. which are harder, crueler and often inherently unfair.
This is where I fundamentally disagree with this idea brought forth by the recent Rachel Franklin interview: the interviewer shruggingly made reference to the idea that this is not meant to be "real life". (Yeah, thanks for letting us in on that, because as gamers we have *no idea that reality is separate from gaming*.) However, this can be a way to tell narratives. And narratives, to get all psych-and-lit-theory for a moment, can teach us, can entertain us, and can even change us and the way we see the world. Making a game that includes simulation allows us to learn a little, even if that learning (in this case) is somewhat superficial. For example: friends and pets are hard work. The more you have, the more time you need to spend on them, because they have their own needs, just as you do. Another example: not all careers demand the same types of skills and investment. And now for the big one, in my opinion: family also requires investment.
In previous versions of the game, this seemed to be an understood.. as did the idea that playing a simulator is about simulating experiences, not-limited-to-but-including, those of adulthood: bills to pay, kids to care for, life to run... not just emo interactions with other sims. It strikes me as the height of irony that a game designed theoretically based on emotional interactions does not seem to have an emotional center at all. Emotions are externalized, objectified.. such that using objects or others to attain emotions is the idea. What's more, I can't think of any more emotionally barren then simply throwing random parties over and over, or going out with other sims, so that once out, you can further objectify something environmental/interpersonal to gain some emotional buff. Quite frankly, it's thin, remarkably linear, and boring as hell.
So, to help with the telemetry, just in case anybody of import actually *does* read this: as a frustrated family utopia player, this is how I play now. First, I make young sims or I use a premade family. I turn aging off and extend lifespans. I find these people jobs, and build them a nice house. When they're stable and employed, I marry them (if they aren't already) and they have a baby (or more, if fertile). If they are a same-sex couple, they marry and adopt as many kids as their household will hold. AND THEN I MOVE ON TO A NEW HOUSE. Why? Because I am still hoping. Because playing with babies as just-barely objects, who then age up into mostly-homework-doing kids is depressing. Because there are parts of this game about interaction with an emotional core environment, that of FAMILY, that are still missing.
We have traded a lot. We traded an open world, endless build possibilities (we really do need more lots), and larger *theoretically more efficient* architecture**.. for a game of endless parties. And the party, for many of us, has been over for awhile now.
Please fix it. Find the emotional center of this game that made it a worldwide success. Because at least for now, you're still the only game in town.
Sincerely, fleshapple.
PS- I would also like to say thank you to the designers and developers of the sims 3-- you guys really got it. And someday, I may just give up on this thing (even now, I play only sporadically.. it's too frustrating) and re-clean my sims 3 game and reboot it. You guys did, for the most part, an amazing job. I would also like to thank the posters in this forum.. who have diligently tried to help players like me be heard. Thanks for all your time and attention. Best wishes to all of you.
Actually I would like to venture that if he was in a room with some of us and heard our feedback with an open mind that he would learn that sims fans are amongst the most intelligent, articulate and create gamers that I believe EA have access to. That should be embraced by EA and used to drive further success, not overlooked and squandered by them.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
The Cowboy and the Mermaid
Sorry. I just can't join your enthusiasm.
@KillerSynth: I´m glad you like the Halloween stuff pack. I won´t buy any more content until toddlers are announced and I´m not into Halloween that much but the stuff pack seems nicely done.
Its nice to see your excited
Its personally not my cup of tea without seasons, and at my current disappointment ive put myself on a ban
Thanks! I'll try to get some pictures up. Been busy playing.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
So, the new stuff pack. I'm sad because I love Halloween, it's one of my favorite holidays. I love the family activities involved with this season, and I play that out both in Sims 2, and in greater degree (thanks to Seasons) in Sims 3. I'm sad because it seems like it's just another party in an already party-heavy game. The logical person in my says, well it's a stuff pack so you can't expect much for $10. But then again, I'd like some stuff to do that is other than partying. And having it involve one of my favorite holidays makes me feel yet again like I'm left out of the fun. Though I don't know why it bugs me so much because it's just not fun to me. Ugh, so frustrated.
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Ahh thanks
I agree i have on occassions put up s4 pics, mainly when i first joined the thread and i was welcome, though my s4 pics were more experimenting with play styles etc. And I love @marcellala ugly to pretty pics, though sadly i havent seen any resently
Everyone here does well to support each other no matter the game, i personally love the diversity of games in this thread.
I checked out the Spooky pack. I love holidays and all the stuff associated with them. I fill my houses with all the junk in RL and in game. I love the candy thing with the hand in it. We have something like that in RL and it smacks at ya when you try to get candy and plays spooky music. Great diet aid.
The Cowboy and the Mermaid
I'm with you @KevWalker I love Halloween. But four times in that advert they mentioned parties and it just annoyed me so much. It's like there isn't anything else in life but parties which of course isn't true. Give me a solid base and I'll add, but I'm not into a party simulator and that's what this seems like so far.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Yeah, you're getting interactive items, but I still don't see carved pumpkins (that, of course, cause moodlets because EVERYTHING MUST AFFECT YOUR MOOD) and candy bowls as worth that amount of money. It's been pre-established that you can always go online to find hair and outfits that you may want because there are tens of hundreds of people all over the globe constantly modding things. Plus, I was really irritated seeing the ghosts wandering around wearing pumpkins on their heads because ghosts are culled SO OFTEN, there won't be enough ghosts to actually cause that to happen unless you use mods.
I enjoy festive things being for free. I don't quite know why, but it's like a sign of good will. And, if rumors are true, there's another stuff pack already on the way with...modern stuff. Because whyyyy not. Huh? Family-themed stuff? HA, NO. Wouldn't it have been nice if children had been given more to do with this pack? Go trick-or-treating WITHOUT load screens! Play in some leaves! Shove candy into your little child face, get really hyper, then get really sick! Go to school in costume because it's a Halloween party at school (though I don't know how this would be implemented in hindsight; the holiday/seasons system from TS3 doesn't exist anymore...)!
I'm not disappointed because I had a strong feeling this wasn't going to be free. I knew.
No, I'm just kind of...saddened. If you're excited about this pack, good on you! Be excited! But I'm not.
EDIT: I mis-saw something!
I do not consider the Sims 4 as ready to have that kind of "fluff" added to the game - even though it is fun, and I'm sure lots of people will enjoy it, and I'm sure lots of wonderful players are excited! - I would much rather see some more basic-type things come first (Ahem, cars maybe?)
For example, I think a Halloween stuff pack would be a really fun release after Seasons have been added to the game. Those big key ingredients to the cake are then complimented by the fun $10 add-ons.
In other news, I have finally started to play The Sims again after a break of about 3 months
I grabbed some custom facial sliders to try and get some different looking sims to the others I have had (over the 4 years I've been playing this game!) and also some custom careers to try out and add freshness to the game. My sims just had their first baby boy, so back to raising him today!
Edited for clarity.