My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me seconds to find the link. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL.
LOL it's great and google makes it so easy to find anything. This is pretty interesting too how it takes an average of two hours to understand basics of a game. I guess that helps with the Game Time trials.
Huh this was interesting too: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2014-releases
"The latter group was highlighted both by a strong new Dragon Age installment and the brand-new IP Titanfall, though the latter scored a lot better with critics than with Metacritic's users, and it is unclear whether it was the huge financial hit EA was hoping for. One definite disappointment—at least from a quality standpoint—was The Sims 4, which turned out to be the lowest-scoring major game in The Sims series to date (scoring 16 points lower than The Sims 3)."
Ok I must stop. I could talk about business things all night if I wanted. XD
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Scobre - My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me mere seconds to find the links. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL. Add to that a photographic memory - but do not be envious - my memory does not discriminate - it store everything - even things I'd rather forget. LOL/ Tons of useless info. All I have to do is read something once and it is locked in.
Mine calls me Sheldon. But I just remember what I've read as opposed to where I've read it.
I spend so much time researching things that I take note of what's important and discard the rest. This can take up valuable time when I actually need links. I have a really bad habit of deleting things.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me seconds to find the link. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL.
LOL it's great and google makes it so easy to find anything. This is pretty interesting too how it takes an average of two hours to understand basics of a game. I guess that helps with the Game Time trials.
Huh this was interesting too: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2014-releases
"The latter group was highlighted both by a strong new Dragon Age installment and the brand-new IP Titanfall, though the latter scored a lot better with critics than with Metacritic's users, and it is unclear whether it was the huge financial hit EA was hoping for. One definite disappointment—at least from a quality standpoint—was The Sims 4, which turned out to be the lowest-scoring major game in The Sims series to date (scoring 16 points lower than The Sims 3)."
Ok I must stop. I could talk about business things all night if I wanted. XD
LOL - I get like that sometimes - see one little fact... and then I'm off.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Scobre - My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me mere seconds to find the links. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL. Add to that a photographic memory - but do not be envious - my memory does not discriminate - it store everything - even things I'd rather forget. LOL/ Tons of useless info. All I have to do is read something once and it is locked in.
Mine calls me Sheldon. But I just remember what I've read as opposed to where I've read it.
I spend so much time researching things that I take note of what's important and discard the rest. This can take up valuable time when I actually need links. I have a really bad habit of deleting things.
Is that Sheldon from Rocky and Bullwinkle show or a different one? Like the Big Bang Theory.
I wish I could delete things - that would be cool - like poems I had to learn in third and fourth grade. LOL. Unfortunately my notes are in my head and just stay there. Facts and info are easy - and I generally also recall where I saw it and even the approximate date - like I said it is a pain. It was great in school, but not so much in everyday life.
Let's put it this way - if someone says 'hey can I copy your notes' after a college lecture - then I had a problem. My brain does not record something like a lecture in note form. LOL.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
LOL - I get like that sometimes - see one little fact... and then I'm off.
Yeah it's horrible. EA isn't the only business it happens too. I think my family do it. My mom or dad reads something on Facebook and we have to look if it is true or not like how Subway had in their bread same chemicals that produce yoga mats. We find strange stuff like that for some reason. I look up a lot of CC and mods for the Sims games too.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Scobre - My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me mere seconds to find the links. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL. Add to that a photographic memory - but do not be envious - my memory does not discriminate - it store everything - even things I'd rather forget. LOL/ Tons of useless info. All I have to do is read something once and it is locked in.
Mine calls me Sheldon. But I just remember what I've read as opposed to where I've read it.
I spend so much time researching things that I take note of what's important and discard the rest. This can take up valuable time when I actually need links. I have a really bad habit of deleting things.
Is that Sheldon from Rocky and Bullwinkle show or a different one? Like the Big Bang Theory.
Big Bang Theory. Forgot all about Rocky and Bullwinkle until you mentioned it.
Now I wonder. Lol
Anyway. I'm off to bed. Have a good one.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
Here's some stats Maxis should pay attention to - and this is just in the US of A -
quote
"In addition to being the fastest-growing — and by some measures, the largest — entertainment medium in the world, video games are having significant and positive effects on health care, education, business, sports and virtually all aspects of American society and culture. More than 180 million Americans play video games; the largest age group is 36 or older. Given those facts, it is understandable that games would be found in every home in the United States." unquote.
Another reason they are making a mistake on who they (meaning Maxis) hand out surveys and polls to. I need stats from rest of the globe - too. I hate that when places just post for the US of A - even though I am in the US of A - games are world wide. You'd think they would list everywhere else to get good round and fair numbers. Everybody matters - i wish I could shout at them.
Post edited by Writin_Reg on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me seconds to find the link. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL.
LOL it's great and google makes it so easy to find anything. This is pretty interesting too how it takes an average of two hours to understand basics of a game. I guess that helps with the Game Time trials.
Huh this was interesting too: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2014-releases
"The latter group was highlighted both by a strong new Dragon Age installment and the brand-new IP Titanfall, though the latter scored a lot better with critics than with Metacritic's users, and it is unclear whether it was the huge financial hit EA was hoping for. One definite disappointment—at least from a quality standpoint—was The Sims 4, which turned out to be the lowest-scoring major game in The Sims series to date (scoring 16 points lower than The Sims 3)."
Ok I must stop. I could talk about business things all night if I wanted. XD
It is very understandable that simmers who have been used to fantastic improvements for each version of the Sims game were disappointed because their expectations were rocket high. In the same way Apple's customers have been disappointed with the most recent models of iPhones and iPads because they didn't get the same fantastic new progress as earlier.
But I doubt that EA and Apple also were disappointed because people were less exited than earlier because the companies of course knew that they hadn't been able to make the same fantastic progress as earlier. EA know that it isn't easy to find ways to make such fantastic progress until the general technological progress makes it possible.
The new emotions, the multitasking and the new build mode weren't ideal. But they were still the best progress which the current technology allowed.
Removing the open world can't have been an easy decision. But if it wasn't done then all the problems from TS3 would also have been in TS4 and the options for making TS4 different would be limited. But EA knew that this would have given lower sales numbers for TS4 too. So they chose to remove the open world to have a chance that other things (especially in the expansions) would give the game acceptable sales numbers anyway.
An alternative probably was to turn TS4 into a 64 bit game because this would allow TS4 to both have an open world and connected worlds with many Sims in them. But I am sure that EA also knows that a lot of Sims games are bought as presents for very young teens who don't really play many other games. Such young teens usually only have cheap computers which they use for their schoolwork. Therefore it was important to allow the game to still run on such computers.
EA evaluated that the new multitasking and the new build mode were necessary improvements even though they weren't ideal. But the time they demanded obviously proved to be exceeding all expectations. Therefore EA just had to simplify other things to keep expenses low enough to give the game a chance to make profit because EA just couldn't raise the price for the game instead for obvious reasons.
I agree that EA probably should have done something different. I just don't know what it should have been. Maybe just postponed the game a few years until all people (even schoolchildren) had powerful 64 bit computers?
I just really hope they don't go the online route again since it doesn't work. If they were to try anything new, I could see going the virtual reality route which I hope they try for a Sims Castaway sequel game. I loved that game.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Scobre - Well they can't with this engine as far as I can see. But I am not 100 percent about that. My son would be as he is a C++ programmer and he does dabble in building game engines a lot - should say did - lately all I hear of him doing is maps for fantasy worlds he's been working on. He is experimenting with one of the virtual Reality designs - not sure which one but some of the programming for it anyway. I have no clue why though. I just know every since he came back from the E3 back in June he lives and breaths Virtual Reality. LOL.
Of course it does not mean Maxis won't try something else - as I see a lot of requests for people asking for an online Medieval Sims game on some other sites. I have never played any of their side games or console versions - but have observed family members playing both. The console version of the Urbs my nephew used to play a lot - but he never played the actual pc games. He is big on consoles. LOL.
I did once consider castaways - when I was stuck in the hospital and my sister in law offered me to use her laptop that had it on there - but the doctor shot that down. LOL. But that is about as close as I ever got to any of their side games.
Post edited by Writin_Reg on
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Is the Sims 4 what it is because it was supposed to be on-line? Because on-line was scrapped and they wanted to get the game released fast so they could make money back on it? Was the budget so low they decided not to give us open world, create-a-style and all the life stages because of that or because they didn't want to bother; removing them got the game released faster? They seem to have a lot of excuses why they couldn't do this or that and they are still making excuses. I think they are just playing us, I have a hard time believing anything on Twitter (not that I twitter but what's posted on here) and I don't trust that toddlers, pets or seasons will be coming anytime soon, if at all. Of course, they can certainly feel free to prove me wrong.
Yep call it potato budget. But the problem is not just the base game. The packs they are releasing have very low budget as well. They are cutting animation for the "Too expensive excuse" in everything. Even the patched dishwasher suffered from this, they cut the animation where the sim opens it!
There are tons and tons of stuff they did this. Why for example they did not make a baby sitter? the baby just disappears by itself when parents go to work. It is so bad.
Everything I post is an opinion here and I think every post of others is as well.
3. Giving funds from The Sims to Titanfall and other titles
Lot of businesses use their profits to fund other projects. This is how a company grows. I don't see the problem with this. In fact, it would be bad business for a company like EA to not expand its offerings.
To better make this argument, you should have complained that the employees should take a pay-cut and receive less pay. The biggest expense for companies are usually employee expenses. Since The Sims 3 employment expenses have risen in California as well as utility and other expenses. The best response would be for the company to move to a cheaper state, the company to layoff employees, or the company to cut employee wages.
It is absolutely NOT OK to do this. That profit should have been invested in the franchise. If you made lots of profit you can channel part of it towards other games provided you would not give the fans of the game that made you money the silly excuse of "Too expensive" for a beard or an animation of a bear etc.
The Sims started as an A grade PC game and EA has turned it to D grade with its potato budget.
Everything I post is an opinion here and I think every post of others is as well.
I just really hope they don't go the online route again since it doesn't work. If they were to try anything new, I could see going the virtual reality route which I hope they try for a Sims Castaway sequel game. I loved that game.
The current technology isn't ready for a game as big as the Sims to be an online game. It is also difficult to accept all the changes this probably would mean. But alas it is also extremely difficult to see now how TS5 could renew the series in another way.
The best choice I can see right now is to make TS5 into a 64 bit only game and let the open world return. But this will only result in the game being very similar to TS3 - and I don't think that TS5 will sell very well if it only is announced as a "64 bit version of TS3".
I played Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3. But when they changed it to the online game World of Warcraft I stopped. If EA also attempts to turn the Sims into an online game which also is financed through monthly subscriptions then I am gone from this game too.
The best choice I can see right now is to make TS5 into a 64 bit only game and let the open world return. But this will only result in the game being very similar to TS3 - and I don't think that TS5 will sell very well if it only is announced as a "64 bit version of TS3".
I'd buy it!
I'm a girl who likes to play with boys, what can I say...
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
@Writin_Reg well said! If a huge company like EA find it too hard and expensive to make games with all the resources and access to the best and brightest staff that comes with their position in the market then they are in serious trouble.
But look at their other games-they aren't doing this elsewhere!
I mean if they can hand on heart say this is the best they are capable of for the sims I feel sorry for them. Fact is we've seen some of the same staff doing much better things when they were new to the job! Something is preventing them from greatness. Don't care what it is. Just want it fixed. And I do not want to hear any more excuses. If all you have are excuses EA I think it's time you offered refunds to those of us who bought under promises you've been incapable of fulfilling.
I think EA are treating the sims game like a Z grade title. I just dont understand why?
Are they doing this with The Sims 4 because they know the game is not getting any better so they just dont want to spend on it anymore?
The half baked stuff they keep releasing every month, the ignorance to what players demand!
I just don't know what to say. I think before the players EA itself has given up on The Sims 4. So when they did that why should we players have any hope that this game will get any better?
Right now it is just the matter of releasing small packs every month and making fast money of them.
Hypothetically it may well be that their cost benefit analysis shows them that it's not worth salvaging things for those they haven't catered to. We've seen the devs talk about how limiting the engine is and sometimes it is more expensive to try to fix something than it is to start from scratch. I suspect that they may be having issues given the explanation they gave for babies stuck to a bassinet.
They may have expected better returns in profits for the game and the issues may have meant they don't have as much access to further funds to fix the issues.
If that's the case I wish they would just come out and say it and stop stringing people along.
Yes I think the game has been given a potato budget!
Whatever difficulty the developers are saying they have is mainly because of the budget. It is a big shame since this is an A grade title. or better to say was an A grade title
Do yo really think that EA should have hired an even bigger team of highly educated professionals?
It is not me who says "No this is expensive"
It is the gurus!
A bear animation was called very expensive
A beard of a certain style expensive
A certain way of sitting on the lounge is very expensive
We are in 2015 and these expensive excuses are getting too old. Game budget has been definitely very much below all the previous sims games.
Heavy animation cut from the game due to this excuse!
I think it is a big shame when developers keep giving us the expensive excuse for animation when we see normal people can do wonders with animation.
I am sure bear animation would not be as complex as this dancing animation that a normal person did to a Sims 4 model. And yea even the hair animates! Something that we had in TS2 and the developers decided to ditch it in TS3 and TS4. This franchise has been going backwards heavily
Okay if my Sim could dance like that and have motion in their hair (Props to the person that made the video it is stunning)..I might rethink my views on game 4. To make money you need to spend money ..The creator of this 1 single video brought life to game 4 Sim... There are other games that bring life to their pixel people... This video .. It made me drop my jaw how smooth and real the game 4 could of been.. Even in its cartoon state that little video make the Sim feel real and interesting and I wanted more...
That movement including hair was just stunning..I am not sure if anyone will get what I mean.. that is okay..because I can't describe what that simple video did for me and my feelings on it compared to the slap stick silly toons that are in Sims 4..
I guess the creator made me feel the emotions of the sim dancing...but it goes deeper but that will do for the simpler version...
I totally get your feeling. Because this is how I felt too. Like you when I saw the video. I am sure other players felt the same too.
Everything I post is an opinion here and I think every post of others is as well.
I just really hope they don't go the online route again since it doesn't work. If they were to try anything new, I could see going the virtual reality route which I hope they try for a Sims Castaway sequel game. I loved that game.
The Sims 5 if there will be one will be 100% online and a cross platform between PC and mobile. You will need your login to play the game on both.
Everything I post is an opinion here and I think every post of others is as well.
The best choice I can see right now is to make TS5 into a 64 bit only game and let the open world return. But this will only result in the game being very similar to TS3 - and I don't think that TS5 will sell very well if it only is announced as a "64 bit version of TS3".
I'd buy it!
I probably would too - and so would probably many others. But not the main target group which probably still is the teens. So even if maybe most in this forum would buy it too I still think that it would get low sales numbers.
I just really hope they don't go the online route again since it doesn't work. If they were to try anything new, I could see going the virtual reality route which I hope they try for a Sims Castaway sequel game. I loved that game.
The Sims 5 if there will be one will be 100% online and a cross platform between PC and mobile. You will need your login to play the game on both.
Then TS5 would be at least 10 years out in the future. So I don't believe this will be the case
Edit: There is another possibility though because TS5 may not be made at all. Then the Sims Freeplay (or the Sims Freeplay 2) could become the game you described
If the Sims franchise is on it's way out, I'd love to see Sims 5 being a swan song to the whole series. Take the best elements of the previous games and put them into one. Each version of the Sims has something in it that we loved, take those elements and build a game that shows the love that fans and developers have had.
I know, I know - will never happen for many of the reasons that have been previously mentioned but a Simmer can dream!
I just really hope they don't go the online route again since it doesn't work. If they were to try anything new, I could see going the virtual reality route which I hope they try for a Sims Castaway sequel game. I loved that game.
I agree and not at this stage, Maxis does not have the temperament to do online, a VR experiment would be interesting though.
Omen by HP Intel®️ Core™️ i9- 12900K W/ RGB Liquid Cooler 32GB Nvidia RTX 3080 10Gb ASUS Ultra-Wide 34" Curved Monitor. Omen By HP Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX 32 GB Nvidia 3070 Ti 8 GB 17.3 Screen
My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me seconds to find the link. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL.
LOL it's great and google makes it so easy to find anything. This is pretty interesting too how it takes an average of two hours to understand basics of a game. I guess that helps with the Game Time trials.
Huh this was interesting too: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2014-releases
"The latter group was highlighted both by a strong new Dragon Age installment and the brand-new IP Titanfall, though the latter scored a lot better with critics than with Metacritic's users, and it is unclear whether it was the huge financial hit EA was hoping for. One definite disappointment—at least from a quality standpoint—was The Sims 4, which turned out to be the lowest-scoring major game in The Sims series to date (scoring 16 points lower than The Sims 3)."
Ok I must stop. I could talk about business things all night if I wanted. XD
It is very understandable that simmers who have been used to fantastic improvements for each version of the Sims game were disappointed because their expectations were rocket high. In the same way Apple's customers have been disappointed with the most recent models of iPhones and iPads because they didn't get the same fantastic new progress as earlier.
But I doubt that EA and Apple also were disappointed because people were less exited than earlier because the companies of course knew that they hadn't been able to make the same fantastic progress as earlier. EA know that it isn't easy to find ways to make such fantastic progress until the general technological progress makes it possible.
The new emotions, the multitasking and the new build mode weren't ideal. But they were still the best progress which the current technology allowed.
Removing the open world can't have been an easy decision. But if it wasn't done then all the problems from TS3 would also have been in TS4 and the options for making TS4 different would be limited. But EA knew that this would have given lower sales numbers for TS4 too. So they chose to remove the open world to have a chance that other things (especially in the expansions) would give the game acceptable sales numbers anyway.
An alternative probably was to turn TS4 into a 64 bit game because this would allow TS4 to both have an open world and connected worlds with many Sims in them. But I am sure that EA also knows that a lot of Sims games are bought as presents for very young teens who don't really play many other games. Such young teens usually only have cheap computers which they use for their schoolwork. Therefore it was important to allow the game to still run on such computers.
EA evaluated that the new multitasking and the new build mode were necessary improvements even though they weren't ideal. But the time they demanded obviously proved to be exceeding all expectations. Therefore EA just had to simplify other things to keep expenses low enough to give the game a chance to make profit because EA just couldn't raise the price for the game instead for obvious reasons.
I agree that EA probably should have done something different. I just don't know what it should have been. Maybe just postponed the game a few years until all people (even schoolchildren) had powerful 64 bit computers?
Open world was gone the moment the started on Olympus.
Scobre - My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me mere seconds to find the links. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL. Add to that a photographic memory - but do not be envious - my memory does not discriminate - it stores everything - even things I'd rather forget. LOL/ Tons of useless info. All I have to do is read something once and it is locked in.
I am envious. I have a P&C licensing exam today and I could really use that gift Thank you for the link.
My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me seconds to find the link. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL.
LOL it's great and google makes it so easy to find anything. This is pretty interesting too how it takes an average of two hours to understand basics of a game. I guess that helps with the Game Time trials.
Huh this was interesting too: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2014-releases
"The latter group was highlighted both by a strong new Dragon Age installment and the brand-new IP Titanfall, though the latter scored a lot better with critics than with Metacritic's users, and it is unclear whether it was the huge financial hit EA was hoping for. One definite disappointment—at least from a quality standpoint—was The Sims 4, which turned out to be the lowest-scoring major game in The Sims series to date (scoring 16 points lower than The Sims 3)."
Ok I must stop. I could talk about business things all night if I wanted. XD
It is very understandable that simmers who have been used to fantastic improvements for each version of the Sims game were disappointed because their expectations were rocket high. In the same way Apple's customers have been disappointed with the most recent models of iPhones and iPads because they didn't get the same fantastic new progress as earlier.
But I doubt that EA and Apple also were disappointed because people were less exited than earlier because the companies of course knew that they hadn't been able to make the same fantastic progress as earlier. EA know that it isn't easy to find ways to make such fantastic progress until the general technological progress makes it possible.
The new emotions, the multitasking and the new build mode weren't ideal. But they were still the best progress which the current technology allowed.
Removing the open world can't have been an easy decision. But if it wasn't done then all the problems from TS3 would also have been in TS4 and the options for making TS4 different would be limited. But EA knew that this would have given lower sales numbers for TS4 too. So they chose to remove the open world to have a chance that other things (especially in the expansions) would give the game acceptable sales numbers anyway.
An alternative probably was to turn TS4 into a 64 bit game because this would allow TS4 to both have an open world and connected worlds with many Sims in them. But I am sure that EA also knows that a lot of Sims games are bought as presents for very young teens who don't really play many other games. Such young teens usually only have cheap computers which they use for their schoolwork. Therefore it was important to allow the game to still run on such computers.
EA evaluated that the new multitasking and the new build mode were necessary improvements even though they weren't ideal. But the time they demanded obviously proved to be exceeding all expectations. Therefore EA just had to simplify other things to keep expenses low enough to give the game a chance to make profit because EA just couldn't raise the price for the game instead for obvious reasons.
I agree that EA probably should have done something different. I just don't know what it should have been. Maybe just postponed the game a few years until all people (even schoolchildren) had powerful 64 bit computers?
Open world was gone the moment the started on Olympus.
Maybe. But we don't really have any information on Olympus from EA. Therefore I think that we can believe almost anything - and half of it may not be true.
My husband accuses me of being a walking encyclopedia - as at least 80 percent of every thing I have in my head so it takes me seconds to find the link. I seem to store keywords in my head or something. LOL.
LOL it's great and google makes it so easy to find anything. This is pretty interesting too how it takes an average of two hours to understand basics of a game. I guess that helps with the Game Time trials.
Huh this was interesting too: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2014-releases
"The latter group was highlighted both by a strong new Dragon Age installment and the brand-new IP Titanfall, though the latter scored a lot better with critics than with Metacritic's users, and it is unclear whether it was the huge financial hit EA was hoping for. One definite disappointment—at least from a quality standpoint—was The Sims 4, which turned out to be the lowest-scoring major game in The Sims series to date (scoring 16 points lower than The Sims 3)."
Ok I must stop. I could talk about business things all night if I wanted. XD
It is very understandable that simmers who have been used to fantastic improvements for each version of the Sims game were disappointed because their expectations were rocket high. In the same way Apple's customers have been disappointed with the most recent models of iPhones and iPads because they didn't get the same fantastic new progress as earlier.
But I doubt that EA and Apple also were disappointed because people were less exited than earlier because the companies of course knew that they hadn't been able to make the same fantastic progress as earlier. EA know that it isn't easy to find ways to make such fantastic progress until the general technological progress makes it possible.
The new emotions, the multitasking and the new build mode weren't ideal. But they were still the best progress which the current technology allowed.
Removing the open world can't have been an easy decision. But if it wasn't done then all the problems from TS3 would also have been in TS4 and the options for making TS4 different would be limited. But EA knew that this would have given lower sales numbers for TS4 too. So they chose to remove the open world to have a chance that other things (especially in the expansions) would give the game acceptable sales numbers anyway.
An alternative probably was to turn TS4 into a 64 bit game because this would allow TS4 to both have an open world and connected worlds with many Sims in them. But I am sure that EA also knows that a lot of Sims games are bought as presents for very young teens who don't really play many other games. Such young teens usually only have cheap computers which they use for their schoolwork. Therefore it was important to allow the game to still run on such computers.
EA evaluated that the new multitasking and the new build mode were necessary improvements even though they weren't ideal. But the time they demanded obviously proved to be exceeding all expectations. Therefore EA just had to simplify other things to keep expenses low enough to give the game a chance to make profit because EA just couldn't raise the price for the game instead for obvious reasons.
I agree that EA probably should have done something different. I just don't know what it should have been. Maybe just postponed the game a few years until all people (even schoolchildren) had powerful 64 bit computers?
Open world was gone the moment the started on Olympus.
Maybe. But we don't really have any information on Olympus from EA. Therefore I think that we can believe almost anything - and half of it may not be true.
Comments
Huh this was interesting too: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/game-publisher-rankings-for-2014-releases
"The latter group was highlighted both by a strong new Dragon Age installment and the brand-new IP Titanfall, though the latter scored a lot better with critics than with Metacritic's users, and it is unclear whether it was the huge financial hit EA was hoping for. One definite disappointment—at least from a quality standpoint—was The Sims 4, which turned out to be the lowest-scoring major game in The Sims series to date (scoring 16 points lower than The Sims 3)."
Ok I must stop. I could talk about business things all night if I wanted. XD
Mine calls me Sheldon. But I just remember what I've read as opposed to where I've read it.
I spend so much time researching things that I take note of what's important and discard the rest. This can take up valuable time when I actually need links. I have a really bad habit of deleting things.
LOL - I get like that sometimes - see one little fact... and then I'm off.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Is that Sheldon from Rocky and Bullwinkle show or a different one? Like the Big Bang Theory.
I wish I could delete things - that would be cool - like poems I had to learn in third and fourth grade. LOL. Unfortunately my notes are in my head and just stay there. Facts and info are easy - and I generally also recall where I saw it and even the approximate date - like I said it is a pain. It was great in school, but not so much in everyday life.
Let's put it this way - if someone says 'hey can I copy your notes' after a college lecture - then I had a problem. My brain does not record something like a lecture in note form. LOL.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Big Bang Theory. Forgot all about Rocky and Bullwinkle until you mentioned it.
Now I wonder. Lol
Anyway. I'm off to bed. Have a good one.
Here's some stats Maxis should pay attention to - and this is just in the US of A -
quote
"In addition to being the fastest-growing — and by some measures, the largest — entertainment medium in the world, video games are having significant and positive effects on health care, education, business, sports and virtually all aspects of American society and culture. More than 180 million Americans play video games; the largest age group is 36 or older. Given those facts, it is understandable that games would be found in every home in the United States." unquote.
Another reason they are making a mistake on who they (meaning Maxis) hand out surveys and polls to. I need stats from rest of the globe - too. I hate that when places just post for the US of A - even though I am in the US of A - games are world wide. You'd think they would list everywhere else to get good round and fair numbers. Everybody matters - i wish I could shout at them.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
But I doubt that EA and Apple also were disappointed because people were less exited than earlier because the companies of course knew that they hadn't been able to make the same fantastic progress as earlier. EA know that it isn't easy to find ways to make such fantastic progress until the general technological progress makes it possible.
The new emotions, the multitasking and the new build mode weren't ideal. But they were still the best progress which the current technology allowed.
Removing the open world can't have been an easy decision. But if it wasn't done then all the problems from TS3 would also have been in TS4 and the options for making TS4 different would be limited. But EA knew that this would have given lower sales numbers for TS4 too. So they chose to remove the open world to have a chance that other things (especially in the expansions) would give the game acceptable sales numbers anyway.
An alternative probably was to turn TS4 into a 64 bit game because this would allow TS4 to both have an open world and connected worlds with many Sims in them. But I am sure that EA also knows that a lot of Sims games are bought as presents for very young teens who don't really play many other games. Such young teens usually only have cheap computers which they use for their schoolwork. Therefore it was important to allow the game to still run on such computers.
EA evaluated that the new multitasking and the new build mode were necessary improvements even though they weren't ideal. But the time they demanded obviously proved to be exceeding all expectations. Therefore EA just had to simplify other things to keep expenses low enough to give the game a chance to make profit because EA just couldn't raise the price for the game instead for obvious reasons.
I agree that EA probably should have done something different. I just don't know what it should have been. Maybe just postponed the game a few years until all people (even schoolchildren) had powerful 64 bit computers?
Of course it does not mean Maxis won't try something else - as I see a lot of requests for people asking for an online Medieval Sims game on some other sites. I have never played any of their side games or console versions - but have observed family members playing both. The console version of the Urbs my nephew used to play a lot - but he never played the actual pc games. He is big on consoles. LOL.
I did once consider castaways - when I was stuck in the hospital and my sister in law offered me to use her laptop that had it on there - but the doctor shot that down. LOL. But that is about as close as I ever got to any of their side games.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
In dreams - I LIVE!
In REALITY, I simply exist.....
Yep call it potato budget. But the problem is not just the base game. The packs they are releasing have very low budget as well. They are cutting animation for the "Too expensive excuse" in everything. Even the patched dishwasher suffered from this, they cut the animation where the sim opens it!
There are tons and tons of stuff they did this. Why for example they did not make a baby sitter? the baby just disappears by itself when parents go to work. It is so bad.
It is absolutely NOT OK to do this. That profit should have been invested in the franchise. If you made lots of profit you can channel part of it towards other games provided you would not give the fans of the game that made you money the silly excuse of "Too expensive" for a beard or an animation of a bear etc.
The Sims started as an A grade PC game and EA has turned it to D grade with its potato budget.
The best choice I can see right now is to make TS5 into a 64 bit only game and let the open world return. But this will only result in the game being very similar to TS3 - and I don't think that TS5 will sell very well if it only is announced as a "64 bit version of TS3".
I played Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3. But when they changed it to the online game World of Warcraft I stopped. If EA also attempts to turn the Sims into an online game which also is financed through monthly subscriptions then I am gone from this game too.
I'd buy it!
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.”Will Wright.
I totally get your feeling. Because this is how I felt too. Like you when I saw the video. I am sure other players felt the same too.
I love the the dress and hair animation. That is what I expected from The Sims 4 specially after TS3 removed the hair animation.
Games like FFXIV released in 2012 and Witcher 3 have amazing hair and clothing animations.
The Sims 5 if there will be one will be 100% online and a cross platform between PC and mobile. You will need your login to play the game on both.
Edit: There is another possibility though because TS5 may not be made at all. Then the Sims Freeplay (or the Sims Freeplay 2) could become the game you described
I know, I know - will never happen for many of the reasons that have been previously mentioned but a Simmer can dream!
I agree and not at this stage, Maxis does not have the temperament to do online, a VR experiment would be interesting though.
Open world was gone the moment the started on Olympus.
I am envious. I have a P&C licensing exam today and I could really use that gift