To be honest, I don't see why they think this silent policy of theirs is a good idea in the end. Generally I would think the more clearer and closer you are to your fans, the more forgiving and loyal your fans would be.
To be honest, I don't see why they think this silent policy of theirs is a good idea in the end. Generally I would think the more clearer and closer you are to your fans, the more forgiving and loyal your fans would be.
EXACTLY my view too.
"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.....
The attitude that Maxis/Ea has towards its games and its fans has solidified my decision to not buy Sims4. They turn out unfinished work, full of bugs and glitches and the 'fixes' are still full of bugs and glitches. They don't respect fans enough to tell the truth, but, when they do comment they can't get there stories straight and wonder why we don't believe them. I spent way too much money on Sims3 and now if something happens to my puter I will be forced to support origin in order to play my game that I bought and purchased prior to this new origin arrangement. Seems a bit fishy to me...and may be something to bring up to the appropriate state agency if that ever happens in my case. I don't like not owning something that I paid pretty good money for and that they were certainly willing to take from me. I don't trust them, and will not give them another nickle of my money.
This is so sad because I love the Sims franchise and I never complain because I love the make and the multitasking of the sims 4, however I honestly never expected the game to lack this much. We should all probably wait to see what the next expantion pack is and wait a little more to hear if they mention anything at all about toddlers... If not I suggest that since they're seeming like they don't care about what the majority wants we should just stop playing the sims 4 in total and go back to the sims 3. Of course unless they come out with a really crazy fun expansion pack that we would die for ( not another party themed pack ). This breaks my heart as I write because there could have been so much more done with the sims 4. If they chose not to add toddles and to keep dragging this on they will be losing one of the biggest game franchises there is! Which will suck for us but will be horrible and a really bad mistake on their part. If the sims community can agree on one thing it's that we all want and need toddlers in this game to fill that empty dull void we have associated with the game. I suggest that the next expansion pack that comes out, if we love it; buy it. If we don't; simply don't buy it. We wait to hear any accouncements about toddles and if there is none we family lovers just uninstall and go back to one of the other sims series that gave us what we loved. That way we aren't just being milked for our money!
To be honest, I don't see why they think this silent policy of theirs is a good idea in the end. Generally I would think the more clearer and closer you are to your fans, the more forgiving and loyal your fans would be.
Exactly. One thing I've loved about Early Access titles (some of them, certainly not the majority) is the openness of the developers with their roadmap. Hyping an upcoming feature 2 months beforehand, sharing what will be coming, connecting with the players (you know, your 🐸🐸🐸🐸 customers that pay you for your product?) etc.
But these guys, holy 🐸🐸🐸🐸 man. It's all a secret, it's all "we can't talk about future content.". Like a bunch of amateurs that can't show their roadmap because it's a mess. A solid studio will not say "Well, we have started working on a seasons EP and we expect a beach GP to be finished soon" and then "Woops, looks like that beach GP is not coming after all." What are they so afraid of? That they can't deliver? If they are working on a specific pack, what's the fear in telling us? Something that is already in the making won't get suddenly scrapped at the final stages unless they are total amateurs.
This whole lack of communication with the playerbase is rather disgusting and shady. Whoever decided on that "policy" deserves to get fired, banned from game development industry, and given a solid slap, because favoring such policy is akin to favoring distrust, and favoring distrust among your playerbase is akin being a complete idiot.
@Writin_Reg I was a victim of Securom. I spent many a sleepless night, resources, and good 'money' on issues that were never actually hardware related. My daughter's machine, my husband's machine, and my own. Only to soon discover the culprit. This is when I started following the community as it seemed to be the only way to go. I learned how to overcome it and correct the issues, etc, but not being a US citizen, I was never a consideration for the class-action lawsuit. This isn't the first time I've been exempt from such cases. An argument for another time and another place.
I still love the game. Dearly so. I still play it, sadly so. I still have to jump through hoops to ensure this never happens to me again, and I still maintain a level of distrust for everything EA produces. I have no options though. I don't think going back to S1 was a bad idea at all in theory, provided they progressed, but it has proven to be a bad idea in practice. It was never the open world I disliked. It was the way it was handled with Story Progression that I disliked. There are other things, but this is not the place for me to elaborate on that.
What upset me most is S4 showed me a glimpse of how good an open world could have been. It showed me how much better building could have been. It showed me how much better many things could have been, but in practice, it failed at following through on how great it really could have been. It failed to offer me the basic customization even S2 offered. It went so far backwards that I don't even know where it went. I can't even be generous enough to call it S1.5. And the cosmetics don't cover a single flaw up. They become glaring. I should not have to resort to mods just to play the game. I didn't have to do that with the original The Sims.
I've been doing this since S2, and it's come to a point where it's sickening.
As for telemetry and toddlers, that is utter bullpoop. I have played with 5 toddlers in the last 2 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll admit I couldn't play with them in S3. I even admit I can't do babies in S4. It's a personal thing. But when I play S2, I can happily play all stages. Does this mean I neither like babies nor toddlers because I can't do one nor the other in S3 or S4? No! It means they're done poorly in both those games.
Quite frankly, they can shove their telemetry where the sun don't shine because it explains absolutely nothing in the greater scheme of things.
The silence only makes it all worse. I'm also ranting. Will stop now. Not your fault.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
@Writin_Reg I was a victim of Securom. I spent many a sleepless night, resources, and good 'money' on issues that were never actually hardware related. My daughter's machine, my husband's machine, and my own. Only to soon discover the culprit. This is when I started following the community as it seemed to be the only way to go. I learned how to overcome it and correct the issues, etc, but not being a US citizen, I was never a consideration for the class-action lawsuit. This isn't the first time I've been exempt from such cases. An argument for another time and another place.
I still love the game. Dearly so. I still play it, sadly so. I still have to jump through hoops to ensure this never happens to me again, and I still maintain a level of distrust for everything EA produces. I have no options though. I don't think going back to S1 was a bad idea at all in theory, provided they progressed, but it has proven to be a bad idea in practice. It was never the open world I disliked. It was the way it was handled with Story Progression that I disliked. There are other things, but this is not the place for me to elaborate on that.
What upset me most is S4 showed me a glimpse of how good an open world could have been. It showed me how much better building could have been. It showed me how much better many things could have been, but in practice, it failed at following through on how great it really could have been. It failed to offer me the basic customization even S2 offered. It went so far backwards that I don't even know where it went. I can't even be generous enough to call it S1.5. And the cosmetics don't cover a single flaw up. They become glaring. I should not have to resort to mods just to play the game. I didn't have to do that with the original The Sims.
I've been doing this since S2, and it's come to a point where it's sickening.
As for telemetry and toddlers, that is utter bullpoop. I have played with 5 toddlers in the last 2 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll admit I couldn't play with them in S3. I even admit I can't do babies in S4. It's a personal thing. But when I play S2, I can happily play all stages. Does this mean I neither like babies nor toddlers because I can't do one nor the other in S3 or S4? No! It means they're done poorly in both those games.
Quite frankly, they can shove their telemetry where the sun don't shine because it explains absolutely nothing in the greater scheme of things.
The silence only makes it all worse. I'm also ranting. Will stop now. Not your fault.
100 percent in agreement with all that you said. I know I felt bad for people who could not be part of the suite. I was right in the middle of it all first getting a dev to work one on one with me - and then when JR made them stop conversing with us - then a bunch of us simmers formed Reclaim Your Game.... which did tons to help simmers get through all that and aided the law suit. But yes I knew people in 3 different EA games (the Sims 2, Spore, and ME) that got caught up in that madness and the silencing force of JR. Funny only Maxis is still of the silence is golden principle of JR. So I know it is just Maxis and not what other studios do here at EA.
It is a fact communication brings people together - it always has and always will and is an asset where ever that becomes the rule. People are more understanding of many things when both sides communicate - it is never a good idea to leave people in the dark forming their own opinions. It is what creates divorces and even wars. It is much better to have a connection to people then to alienate them with a wall of silence - which is always seen as a harbinger of foreboding and some thing evil, or bad, or deceptive.
But I definitely understand every word you are saying and know well what you went thru then - and how we feel probably a whole lot alike and in agreement for sure. It is very sad indeed that things have not progressed still for everyone.
"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.....
They do not intend on bringing them back. That is the reason behind the silence. Why lose money on telling fans -there will be none of- something/the thing most of you want? It wouldn't make sense from a business point.
I totally agree & it definitely makes sense from a business stand-point...doesn't make it right, but I see why they're doing what they're doing.
I really miss the TS3 days when we knew way ahead what was coming next and we'd have the live-streams with the gurus...it kinda felt like one big happy family if I hadn't been around for those days, these days wouldn't seem to strange I guess.
Adding: To be totally honestly, I think I'd be LESS upset if they came-out and said, "toddlers aren't in our plans" than I am right now. If I had that fact to work with I'd probably teach myself new play-styles and get back into the game. It's the waiting to see part that's so frustrating...
I agree.
I feel like I'll definitely respect them more if they say no toddlers are ever coming. Because I'll feel they are not taking advantage of my hopes for me to keep playing and spending money on them in the hopes it might ever come back. I just want closure to then decide if I'll keep playing the Sims 4 or not if there is no toddlers.
Yes! You said it way better than I could have, but yes! I definitely feel like I'm being a bit taken advantage of and it's not a good feeling, especially not a good feeling coming from my favorite game of all time that I've supported since TS1
100 percent in agreement with all that you said. I know I felt bad for people who could not be part of the suite. I was right in the middle of it all first getting a dev to work one on one with me - and then when JR made them stop conversing with us - then a bunch of us simmers formed Reclaim Your Game.... which did tons to help simmers get through all that and aided the law suit. But yes I knew people in 3 different EA games (the Sims 2, Spore, and ME) that got caught up in that madness and the silencing force of JR. Funny only Maxis is still of the silence is golden principle of JR. So I know it is just Maxis and not what other studios do here at EA.
It is a fact communication brings people together - it always has and always will and is an asset where ever that becomes the rule. People are more understanding of many things when both sides communicate - it is never a good idea to leave people in the dark forming their own opinions. It is what creates divorces and even wars. It is much better to have a connection to people then to alienate them with a wall of silence - which is always seen as a harbinger of foreboding and some evil or bad or deceptive.
But I definitely understand every word you are saying and know well what you went thru then - and how we feel probably a whole lot alike and in agreement for sure. It is very sad indeed that things have not progressed still for everyone.
I know I feel like a broken record when this comes up but this just isn't the case. The info on the upcoming ME has been incredibly sparse. I don't think DAI got a real trailer (just some teasers, same as ME) until 5 months before release and the info on their dlc didn't come out until shortly before each dlc was released. At this point, most of the info we have on ME's next installment is leaked info and rumors. I don't know how the other studios under EA handle things but at the very least Maxis and Bioware have that in common.
Origin ID: ebuchala I'm not a psychopath. I'm a high-functioning psychopath. Reaper
@Writin_Reg I was a victim of Securom. I spent many a sleepless night, resources, and good 'money' on issues that were never actually hardware related. My daughter's machine, my husband's machine, and my own. Only to soon discover the culprit. This is when I started following the community as it seemed to be the only way to go. I learned how to overcome it and correct the issues, etc, but not being a US citizen, I was never a consideration for the class-action lawsuit. This isn't the first time I've been exempt from such cases. An argument for another time and another place.
I still love the game. Dearly so. I still play it, sadly so. I still have to jump through hoops to ensure this never happens to me again, and I still maintain a level of distrust for everything EA produces. I have no options though. I don't think going back to S1 was a bad idea at all in theory, provided they progressed, but it has proven to be a bad idea in practice. It was never the open world I disliked. It was the way it was handled with Story Progression that I disliked. There are other things, but this is not the place for me to elaborate on that.
What upset me most is S4 showed me a glimpse of how good an open world could have been. It showed me how much better building could have been. It showed me how much better many things could have been, but in practice, it failed at following through on how great it really could have been. It failed to offer me the basic customization even S2 offered. It went so far backwards that I don't even know where it went. I can't even be generous enough to call it S1.5. And the cosmetics don't cover a single flaw up. They become glaring. I should not have to resort to mods just to play the game. I didn't have to do that with the original The Sims.
I've been doing this since S2, and it's come to a point where it's sickening.
As for telemetry and toddlers, that is utter bullpoop. I have played with 5 toddlers in the last 2 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll admit I couldn't play with them in S3. I even admit I can't do babies in S4. It's a personal thing. But when I play S2, I can happily play all stages. Does this mean I neither like babies nor toddlers because I can't do one nor the other in S3 or S4? No! It means they're done poorly in both those games.
Quite frankly, they can shove their telemetry where the sun don't shine because it explains absolutely nothing in the greater scheme of things.
The silence only makes it all worse. I'm also ranting. Will stop now. Not your fault.
100 percent in agreement with all that you said. I know I felt bad for people who could not be part of the suite. I was right in the middle of it all first getting a dev to work one on one with me - and then when JR made them stop conversing with us - then a bunch of us simmers formed Reclaim Your Game.... which did tons to help simmers get through all that and aided the law suit. But yes I knew people in 3 different EA games (the Sims 2, Spore, and ME) that got caught up in that madness and the silencing force of JR. Funny only Maxis is still of the silence is golden principle of JR. So I know it is just Maxis and not what other studios do here at EA.
It is a fact communication brings people together - it always has and always will and is an asset where ever that becomes the rule. People are more understanding of many things when both sides communicate - it is never a good idea to leave people in the dark forming their own opinions. It is what creates divorces and even wars. It is much better to have a connection to people then to alienate them with a wall of silence - which is always seen as a harbinger of foreboding and some thing evil, or bad, or deceptive.
But I definitely understand every word you are saying and know well what you went thru then - and how we feel probably a whole lot alike and in agreement for sure. It is very sad indeed that things have not progressed still for everyone.
Ah. Yes. I was trying to remember the name of that site: reclaimyourgame. I had no idea you were part of that. Great work and many thanks. This site was liberating and freed me from many headaches. I can't even remember how I came upon it. But I do remember how life-changing it was when I could suddenly use my drives again. What an awful thing Securom was. I'm actually more mad at Sony (still) for inventing it than I am at EA for using it. What on earth were they thinking?
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
100 percent in agreement with all that you said. I know I felt bad for people who could not be part of the suite. I was right in the middle of it all first getting a dev to work one on one with me - and then when JR made them stop conversing with us - then a bunch of us simmers formed Reclaim Your Game.... which did tons to help simmers get through all that and aided the law suit. But yes I knew people in 3 different EA games (the Sims 2, Spore, and ME) that got caught up in that madness and the silencing force of JR. Funny only Maxis is still of the silence is golden principle of JR. So I know it is just Maxis and not what other studios do here at EA.
It is a fact communication brings people together - it always has and always will and is an asset where ever that becomes the rule. People are more understanding of many things when both sides communicate - it is never a good idea to leave people in the dark forming their own opinions. It is what creates divorces and even wars. It is much better to have a connection to people then to alienate them with a wall of silence - which is always seen as a harbinger of foreboding and some evil or bad or deceptive.
But I definitely understand every word you are saying and know well what you went thru then - and how we feel probably a whole lot alike and in agreement for sure. It is very sad indeed that things have not progressed still for everyone.
I know I feel like a broken record when this comes up but this just isn't the case. The info on the upcoming ME has been incredibly sparse. I don't think DAI got a real trailer (just some teasers, same as ME) until 5 months before release and the info on their dlc didn't come out until shortly before each dlc was released. At this point, most of the info we have on ME's next installment is leaked info and rumors. I don't know how the other studios under EA handle things but at the very least Maxis and Bioware have that in common.
I have been seeing complaints on ME on Reddit a lot - on sparse info - and such, but was not sure if it was as bad as we have. But I could guess a lot of that is probably to do with the same issue as here seeing they too were part of all the uproar back in 2007/2008 with Securom and JR. I just think it is wrong and if they had good communication they would not have made the last DA terrible or the horrid ending in the prior ME game. That kind of stuff could have been as avoided as we are having here with Sims 4. Good communication is the answer not a wall of silence with a game the majority of people don't like.
"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.....
100 percent in agreement with all that you said. I know I felt bad for people who could not be part of the suite. I was right in the middle of it all first getting a dev to work one on one with me - and then when JR made them stop conversing with us - then a bunch of us simmers formed Reclaim Your Game.... which did tons to help simmers get through all that and aided the law suit. But yes I knew people in 3 different EA games (the Sims 2, Spore, and ME) that got caught up in that madness and the silencing force of JR. Funny only Maxis is still of the silence is golden principle of JR. So I know it is just Maxis and not what other studios do here at EA.
It is a fact communication brings people together - it always has and always will and is an asset where ever that becomes the rule. People are more understanding of many things when both sides communicate - it is never a good idea to leave people in the dark forming their own opinions. It is what creates divorces and even wars. It is much better to have a connection to people then to alienate them with a wall of silence - which is always seen as a harbinger of foreboding and some evil or bad or deceptive.
But I definitely understand every word you are saying and know well what you went thru then - and how we feel probably a whole lot alike and in agreement for sure. It is very sad indeed that things have not progressed still for everyone.
I know I feel like a broken record when this comes up but this just isn't the case. The info on the upcoming ME has been incredibly sparse. I don't think DAI got a real trailer (just some teasers, same as ME) until 5 months before release and the info on their dlc didn't come out until shortly before each dlc was released. At this point, most of the info we have on ME's next installment is leaked info and rumors. I don't know how the other studios under EA handle things but at the very least Maxis and Bioware have that in common.
I have been seeing complaints on ME on Reddit a lot - on sparse info - and such, but was not sure if it was as bad as we have. But I could guess a lot of that is probably to do with the same issue as here seeing they too were part of all the uproar back in 2007/2008 with Securom and JR. I just think it is wrong and if they had good communication they would not have made the last DA terrible or the horrid ending in the prior ME game. That kind of stuff could have been as avoided as we are having here with Sims 4. Good communication is the answer not a wall of silence with a game the majority of people don't like.
As much as I agree with you about communication, I don't think that was the issue with either DA2 (which, IMO, was a good game, just a bit lazy in how they reused a lot of assets/settings) or the ME3 ending (which was both time and arrogance, again IMO).
With Sims, though, communication would go a long way toward settling people and making them feel like Maxis is at least listening but, based on Bioware also being secretive and I guess someone else said Star Wars Battlefront is like that, I tend to think EA has some hand in limiting how much they communicate with their customers, unfortunately. I still suspect with Maxis a huge part of it is how badly they seem to handle any kind of customer communication to begin with.
Origin ID: ebuchala I'm not a psychopath. I'm a high-functioning psychopath. Reaper
THIS! See, they won't tell you cause they're afraid you'll leave. Well, there you have it- toddlers are not coming. You've just stated what so many others are saying, I'll keep buying til they say "no" but then I'm leaving- so they won't say no. Otherwise they'd just say "sure we have them on the map and they are planned to be a future release but as far as when we can't say" OR if the result was even and everyone was staying anyway, "No, I'm sorry but being left out of the base game has left the matter in an untenable state that would require an extraordinary expenditure of resources leveraged against projected return to justify undertaking". By the logic of this post and others like it they are not coming, that's the only reason to say nothing, to preserve the current market as much as possible. Probably with an eye to building up a market to take on some of the projected loss from the franchise base when Toddlers, finally, never arrive. I think it could be working following from statements like the one above. I'm constantly amazed at the growing number of people who are new to the series who just shrug and say "All that stuff you guys are missing like Toddlers and CASt and open world. It doesn't bother me, I just started playing the game and I love it!" This ties in with the seriously steep discounts that bring the price of 4 to nearly the price of 3. Granted, 3 is a bundle but in marketing most buyers will see 23.99 brand new game OR 19.99 six year old game with a "little" more stuff and go for the new one. A lot of new players will and I think are, going with 4 over 3 and not missing a thing. SO, if your primary hope and expectation is that if you continue to feed EA money that you'll be rewarded with Toddlers then you are taking the wrong tack. It could happen but why risk it. Stop buying, stop participating and AND GO BACK TO 3 even if it is laggy. Their "telemetry" will show them the shift and that will get their attention. When they release what you want then go back and buy up what you missed- it'll be on sale. For you toddler players let me put it in perspective- You don't hand a kid a plumming cookie when he plums up and then keep doing that again and again with the hope that he'll somehow grow to like you so much he'll just start being good to make you happy. NO, you put him in a chair in time out for a while and let him think about what he has done.
Oh, and stop blaming the developers for silence to anyone doing so OR tempted to do so. Either you've never worked for a corporation or you missed everything while you were there. When corporate administration gives a directive for silence then you shut up or you quit or get fired AND then you still shut up due to obligations written into most employment contracts.
You are absolutely right.
The first problem with the series is that they don't really need to please the fans that much. The Sims series has no competition. If any generic FPS game does something really bad of a game, there are THOUSANDS of other very similar games to play for people to go. And even with competition, these games are riddled with business malpractice and overpricing.
The Sims only competes with itself. If people don't like TS4, they'll buy TS3, they'll go back to TS2. There is NO option, if you want something new, you have to stick with what we have now.
Which leads to the second problem: TS fanbase is made of really casual players (and by "casual players" I don't mean "stupid" or "gullible", I mean people who generally don't really care for games at all). TS games attract completely new players every iteration, and the majority of the people who buy the new ones are not bothered to look at the older ones to see what features they had. Casual gamers don't care about the market and are not interested in doing a little research, so for them, TS4 is as revolutionary as ever.
Of course not all people who enjoy TS4 are new to the series, but if they are old simmers, this passiveness really leaves me scratching my head.
I'm an old simmer, and although I wish they would add toddlers and cars to the game, I am also a casual gamer, and Sims 4 is very much like a casual game. Casual games are intended to be played for far fewer hours than an enthusiast game (for example, playing out the entire story of most casual hidden object games takes about 48 hours tops, and then the game is over). However, it is way overpriced for a casual game. (Most casual games are under $20). I'll admit I overpaid for the base game, however, part of that was the price for early admission - I preordered, which I had never done before. I could have instead waited until the game went on sale (which all games eventually do), but I had no way of knowing how long I would have to wait for that, and so I paid to play early in the game's development.
In Sims 2, I tended to play Knowledge aspiration, Wealth aspiration, and Pleasure aspiration Sims, with the occasional Grilled Cheese aspiration sim. Part of that is because since there was no multitasking, I found working with more than 2 or 3 sims per household too challenging for me, since as a player I was the one having to do all the multitasking. (Many casual games are time management games, but I rarely got above about level 5 or 10 on games like Restaurant Dash.) Toddlers were fun in Sims 2, but I rarely got all 3 major life tasks (walk, talk, potty train) done before they aged up, and I didn't like sacrificing the aspirations of the Sim parents for the aspiration of the Sim toddler.
In Sims 3, I found it too hard to play in rotation, so I made several different save files - one for each world. I have never liked playing Sim households with babies though, since babies don't have any wishes/skills/aspirations, and mostly just tend to deplete the motives of the adult Sims in the household with the baby Sim, so whenever possible, I would always put off my Sims having babies until they had skill level 5 in most skills.
So as you may have guessed, I am not into creating large families of sims, nor even Sim legacies. This is one reason the absence of toddlers does not affect my gameplay. As to the absence of cars, one can simply use one's imagination, and imagine that the Sim is walking to the bus stop or the subway station. Admittedly, given the neighborhood map, it is not logical that one would take a bus or subway car that short a distance, so I do find the loading screens annoying, but by themselves, not a deal breaker, since they weren't in Sims 2. I don't miss the rabbitholes of Sims 3, and EA has shown us that the choice is between rabbitholes and loading screens with the present level of technology. I wish that it were otherwise of course, but wishing won't make it so. Lots of players complained about rabbitholes, so they went with loading screens for Sims 4. Still, it should be possible to add cars in at some point in time like they did with Sims 2 - if they don't, I will be disappointed. But at this point, I am considering Sims 4 as a separate game on its own, rather than an improved version of the previous games. When thought of this way, it beats other life simulation games on the market that are either multiplayer (Second Life, IMVU) or are in development, or have fewer features (Virtual Families, Kudos 2, Android/iOS games).
I have been playing The Sims since 2001, when Livin Large came out. My avatar deliberately looks like Chris Roomies from TS1.
Not sure why everybody loves toddlers, I couldnt stand them, they are time consuming little brats! Did we have them in sims 3? I cant even remember, Im just so glad they are gone, LOL
Maxis is silent because EA doesn't allow them to talk about future stuff before it is ready to be officially announced. So nothing strange there
EA's general policy is to not just make the same games again if this can be avoided. Therefore EA has always told Maxis (and EA's other game developers) to find new main things for every edition of the games. This couldn't really be family play or cars - and it becomes more difficult for each edition of the game. Maxis chose multitasking, the new emotions and the new CAS for TS4. But then Maxis didn't have enough time to just repeat everything else too. So toddler, cars, and other things had to be removed and teens had to be simplified by giving them the same height as adults.
Most of this can't be repaired now because it would be too expensive and expansions have to contain new things too. (Otherwise they can't be expected to sell very well.) I therefore don't really expect them to add toddlers and they sure won't make teens shorter in TS4. Cars can easily be added though. But they still won't tell us until such an expansion is ready to be released.
I think that they don't plan to add toddlers nor cars, unless it's going to be a part of an EP. I also don't think toddlers were developed before they announced they didn't have time to add them to the game... Yep.
There's probably more chance they'll add cars in the future. If they do that, it'd probably be like the cars in the Sims 2 because of the loading screens.
There is only so much the Guru's can say without breaking their 'no talking on future content' which could lead them to possible loosing their job. Kinda of weird just for people to feel better that they don't mind a guru breaking a legal contract just to give a yes or no answer.
And if they did say they were working on them and it may be awhile, this forums would blow up more than an A bomb, also if something were to come up and toddlers were rushed, patched in with glitches. Then this whole 'I hate the sims 4 because...' will blow up once again. 'These toddlers are ugly.' 'These toddlers are not fleshed out enough.' 'These toddlers are cheap, sims 4 just needs to end.' Yes, this will happen, Gurus can't win for loosing with people here.
I would like them to take their time. I don't want the annoying toddlers from sims 3, that was just a doll with an adults face slapped on it, that my sims had to tend to 24/7. Animation is not a magical thing were they can go 'magic pen i want toddlers' then bam fully fleshed out toddlers with no bugs.
You not only have ton animate how the toddlers will express emotions (unlike other sims games, sims 4 sims have more expression to them), but on how the toddlers will react to whats around them, or react to different life stages (children will react to toddlers different then adult) With that comes a plum load of animations, (i don't want them to take the route of copying animation from previous games like the sims 3 copied sims 2) I want new animations and game play, like a toddler pulling themselves up on the sofa, or a toddler climbing on things, a toddler being a toddler.
Then you have the mesh, and make sure all joints are working correctly. After that you have to design clothing, hair, and furniture for said life stage.
Maybe people on this forum need to take coding and animation lessons (many will most likely drop out because it is a time consuming job), and make their own toddlers.
As for cars, Sim 2 had them and it closed, Sims 4 also have them the only difference is you can't drive them.
You're honestly just trying to make more excuses for their laziness. Just saying.
You bring up the fact that toddlers would be "hard" and that they take time to program into the game. Well, if they were included with the base game to begin with, this wouldn't even be a problem. The developers have themselves to blame. Stop acting as if excluding toddlers was even an acceptable decision. Also, it's not up to the fans to develop the game. It's up to the developers. So, that pretty much invalidates your whole "make your own toddlers" argument.
We're not the ones who decided to become video game developers. It's NOT our job to create content for The Sims. It's supposed to be the jobs of the developers. Again, I don't wanna hear any complaining about how "hard" it is to create toddlers or about how long it's gonna take to make them. The Sims 4 has been out for over a whole year now and we don't even have ANY information on them at all. Not only that, but, again, toddlers should've been included in the game to begin with. If they were, the developers wouldn't be coming across this problem.
An explanation of what's involved in game design, animation, and programming isn't an "excuse for laziness". This stuff really, truly does take a lot of decision making, time, and labour. It can't be done fast, nor is it easy. Obviously, it's their job; but that doesn't mean they can do it overnight just because you want them to, and it doesn't mean that taking the necessary, unavoidable time to do it is slacking off.
I don't like the business decision of excluding toddlers either. I'd rather they'd made an $80 game, not a $70 one, with a second 6-month delay and included them. And that would be the actual business-reality alternative to cutting another significant, time-consuming, resource-intensive piece of content, which just would just have become the "toddlers" of the game instead of toddlers. Either way, there's significant labour involved. You can't just magick or wish that away because you don't like that game design and development aren't fast and easy.
Okay. You obviously completely missed the point I was making. The excuse that toddlers are "too hard" and "take time to make" is completely ridiculous. They should have been included in the base game to begin with. That's the point. I don't wanna hear about how long it'll take to create toddlers because they SHOULD already be in the game! How much more time do they need for a feature that should have been and actually was originally supposed to be in the base game but was removed at last minute!?
You're continuing to make excuses for EA and Maxis.
They weren't removed last minute. They were confirmed to be absent in the game in August 2013, when the first showed off the game. And then they explained why four months before launch.
However, SimGuruGrant said at Gamescon that all previous life stages would be in the game, and that Cars should be returning, however couldn't confirm at the time.
They were never in the game, and all screenshots show Toddlers absent.
I agree they should have been in the game, but they were not removed last minute. They never were in the game. SimGuruGrant made a mistake, however said he couldn't confirm at the time anyway so there was never confirmation they were coming.
Ok that is not what he said at all. He said quite clearly toddlers were in, and cars were in too. The only thing he couldn't confirm was if cars were fully animated, which is automatically no because the game doesn't even have cars like he said.
There is only so much the Guru's can say without breaking their 'no talking on future content' which could lead them to possible loosing their job. Kinda of weird just for people to feel better that they don't mind a guru breaking a legal contract just to give a yes or no answer.
And if they did say they were working on them and it may be awhile, this forums would blow up more than an A bomb, also if something were to come up and toddlers were rushed, patched in with glitches. Then this whole 'I hate the sims 4 because...' will blow up once again. 'These toddlers are ugly.' 'These toddlers are not fleshed out enough.' 'These toddlers are cheap, sims 4 just needs to end.' Yes, this will happen, Gurus can't win for loosing with people here.
I would like them to take their time. I don't want the annoying toddlers from sims 3, that was just a doll with an adults face slapped on it, that my sims had to tend to 24/7. Animation is not a magical thing were they can go 'magic pen i want toddlers' then bam fully fleshed out toddlers with no bugs.
You not only have ton animate how the toddlers will express emotions (unlike other sims games, sims 4 sims have more expression to them), but on how the toddlers will react to whats around them, or react to different life stages (children will react to toddlers different then adult) With that comes a plum load of animations, (i don't want them to take the route of copying animation from previous games like the sims 3 copied sims 2) I want new animations and game play, like a toddler pulling themselves up on the sofa, or a toddler climbing on things, a toddler being a toddler.
Then you have the mesh, and make sure all joints are working correctly. After that you have to design clothing, hair, and furniture for said life stage.
Maybe people on this forum need to take coding and animation lessons (many will most likely drop out because it is a time consuming job), and make their own toddlers.
As for cars, Sim 2 had them and it closed, Sims 4 also have them the only difference is you can't drive them.
You're honestly just trying to make more excuses for their laziness. Just saying.
You bring up the fact that toddlers would be "hard" and that they take time to program into the game. Well, if they were included with the base game to begin with, this wouldn't even be a problem. The developers have themselves to blame. Stop acting as if excluding toddlers was even an acceptable decision. Also, it's not up to the fans to develop the game. It's up to the developers. So, that pretty much invalidates your whole "make your own toddlers" argument.
We're not the ones who decided to become video game developers. It's NOT our job to create content for The Sims. It's supposed to be the jobs of the developers. Again, I don't wanna hear any complaining about how "hard" it is to create toddlers or about how long it's gonna take to make them. The Sims 4 has been out for over a whole year now and we don't even have ANY information on them at all. Not only that, but, again, toddlers should've been included in the game to begin with. If they were, the developers wouldn't be coming across this problem.
An explanation of what's involved in game design, animation, and programming isn't an "excuse for laziness". This stuff really, truly does take a lot of decision making, time, and labour. It can't be done fast, nor is it easy. Obviously, it's their job; but that doesn't mean they can do it overnight just because you want them to, and it doesn't mean that taking the necessary, unavoidable time to do it is slacking off.
I don't like the business decision of excluding toddlers either. I'd rather they'd made an $80 game, not a $70 one, with a second 6-month delay and included them. And that would be the actual business-reality alternative to cutting another significant, time-consuming, resource-intensive piece of content, which just would just have become the "toddlers" of the game instead of toddlers. Either way, there's significant labour involved. You can't just magick or wish that away because you don't like that game design and development aren't fast and easy.
Okay. You obviously completely missed the point I was making. The excuse that toddlers are "too hard" and "take time to make" is completely ridiculous. They should have been included in the base game to begin with. That's the point. I don't wanna hear about how long it'll take to create toddlers because they SHOULD already be in the game! How much more time do they need for a feature that should have been and actually was originally supposed to be in the base game but was removed at last minute!?
You're continuing to make excuses for EA and Maxis.
They weren't removed last minute. They were confirmed to be absent in the game in August 2013, when the first showed off the game. And then they explained why four months before launch.
However, SimGuruGrant said at Gamescon that all previous life stages would be in the game, and that Cars should be returning, however couldn't confirm at the time.
They were never in the game, and all screenshots show Toddlers absent.
I agree they should have been in the game, but they were not removed last minute. They never were in the game. SimGuruGrant made a mistake, however said he couldn't confirm at the time anyway so there was never confirmation they were coming.
Ok that is not what he said at all. He said quite clearly toddlers were in, and cars were in too. The only thing he couldn't confirm was if cars were fully animated, which is automatically no because the game doesn't even have cars like he said.
Above the interview, there is this mention "Below are the questions in no particular order and his responses based on how I remember him answering them. I only summarized what he said; I didn’t write his responses in full, so that I could save time".
Well tbh there's no point in cars coz there's no open world, read my forum for more
Doesn't make them pointless. The Sims 2 also had no open world, and still had cars. I think most people want them to add a bit more realism to their game. I just want to build houses with garages, and seeing my Sims drive off the drive way. I am not very interested in seeing my Sims driving a car all the way to a destination, but just skipping them because there is no open world is no excuse if you ask me.
There is only so much the Guru's can say without breaking their 'no talking on future content' which could lead them to possible loosing their job. Kinda of weird just for people to feel better that they don't mind a guru breaking a legal contract just to give a yes or no answer.
And if they did say they were working on them and it may be awhile, this forums would blow up more than an A bomb, also if something were to come up and toddlers were rushed, patched in with glitches. Then this whole 'I hate the sims 4 because...' will blow up once again. 'These toddlers are ugly.' 'These toddlers are not fleshed out enough.' 'These toddlers are cheap, sims 4 just needs to end.' Yes, this will happen, Gurus can't win for loosing with people here.
I would like them to take their time. I don't want the annoying toddlers from sims 3, that was just a doll with an adults face slapped on it, that my sims had to tend to 24/7. Animation is not a magical thing were they can go 'magic pen i want toddlers' then bam fully fleshed out toddlers with no bugs.
You not only have ton animate how the toddlers will express emotions (unlike other sims games, sims 4 sims have more expression to them), but on how the toddlers will react to whats around them, or react to different life stages (children will react to toddlers different then adult) With that comes a plum load of animations, (i don't want them to take the route of copying animation from previous games like the sims 3 copied sims 2) I want new animations and game play, like a toddler pulling themselves up on the sofa, or a toddler climbing on things, a toddler being a toddler.
Then you have the mesh, and make sure all joints are working correctly. After that you have to design clothing, hair, and furniture for said life stage.
Maybe people on this forum need to take coding and animation lessons (many will most likely drop out because it is a time consuming job), and make their own toddlers.
As for cars, Sim 2 had them and it closed, Sims 4 also have them the only difference is you can't drive them.
You're honestly just trying to make more excuses for their laziness. Just saying.
You bring up the fact that toddlers would be "hard" and that they take time to program into the game. Well, if they were included with the base game to begin with, this wouldn't even be a problem. The developers have themselves to blame. Stop acting as if excluding toddlers was even an acceptable decision. Also, it's not up to the fans to develop the game. It's up to the developers. So, that pretty much invalidates your whole "make your own toddlers" argument.
We're not the ones who decided to become video game developers. It's NOT our job to create content for The Sims. It's supposed to be the jobs of the developers. Again, I don't wanna hear any complaining about how "hard" it is to create toddlers or about how long it's gonna take to make them. The Sims 4 has been out for over a whole year now and we don't even have ANY information on them at all. Not only that, but, again, toddlers should've been included in the game to begin with. If they were, the developers wouldn't be coming across this problem.
An explanation of what's involved in game design, animation, and programming isn't an "excuse for laziness". This stuff really, truly does take a lot of decision making, time, and labour. It can't be done fast, nor is it easy. Obviously, it's their job; but that doesn't mean they can do it overnight just because you want them to, and it doesn't mean that taking the necessary, unavoidable time to do it is slacking off.
I don't like the business decision of excluding toddlers either. I'd rather they'd made an $80 game, not a $70 one, with a second 6-month delay and included them. And that would be the actual business-reality alternative to cutting another significant, time-consuming, resource-intensive piece of content, which just would just have become the "toddlers" of the game instead of toddlers. Either way, there's significant labour involved. You can't just magick or wish that away because you don't like that game design and development aren't fast and easy.
Okay. You obviously completely missed the point I was making. The excuse that toddlers are "too hard" and "take time to make" is completely ridiculous. They should have been included in the base game to begin with. That's the point. I don't wanna hear about how long it'll take to create toddlers because they SHOULD already be in the game! How much more time do they need for a feature that should have been and actually was originally supposed to be in the base game but was removed at last minute!?
You're continuing to make excuses for EA and Maxis.
They weren't removed last minute. They were confirmed to be absent in the game in August 2013, when the first showed off the game. And then they explained why four months before launch.
However, SimGuruGrant said at Gamescon that all previous life stages would be in the game, and that Cars should be returning, however couldn't confirm at the time.
They were never in the game, and all screenshots show Toddlers absent.
I agree they should have been in the game, but they were not removed last minute. They never were in the game. SimGuruGrant made a mistake, however said he couldn't confirm at the time anyway so there was never confirmation they were coming.
Ok that is not what he said at all. He said quite clearly toddlers were in, and cars were in too. The only thing he couldn't confirm was if cars were fully animated, which is automatically no because the game doesn't even have cars like he said.
Above the interview, there is this mention "Below are the questions in no particular order and his responses based on how I remember him answering them. I only summarized what he said; I didn’t write his responses in full, so that I could save time".
So we don't know what his actual words were.
Ugh. Missed that bit. So basically, not really quotations at all
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
Well tbh there's no point in cars coz there's no open world, read my forum for more
Doesn't make them pointless. The Sims 2 also had no open world, and still had cars. I think most people want them to add a bit more realism to their game. I just want to build houses with garages, and seeing my Sims drive off the drive way. I am not very interested in seeing my Sims driving a car all the way to a destination, but just skipping them because there is no open world is no excuse if you ask me.
Sims 2 had awesome fun car gameplay! I'd love Sims 2 type car gameplay back. I just don't much want cars that my Sims never physically interact with, or for them to be forced into them by the game: I want my Sims to walk and cycle and the like.
EA CREATOR NETWORK MEMBER — Want to be notified of patches, new Broken Mods threads, and urgent Sims 4 news? Follow me at https://www.patreon.com/luthienrising.
To be honest, I don't see why they think this silent policy of theirs is a good idea in the end. Generally I would think the more clearer and closer you are to your fans, the more forgiving and loyal your fans would be.
Exactly. One thing I've loved about Early Access titles (some of them, certainly not the majority) is the openness of the developers with their roadmap. Hyping an upcoming feature 2 months beforehand, sharing what will be coming, connecting with the players (you know, your 🐸🐸🐸🐸 customers that pay you for your product?) etc.
But these guys, holy 🐸🐸🐸🐸 man. It's all a secret, it's all "we can't talk about future content.". Like a bunch of amateurs that can't show their roadmap because it's a mess. A solid studio will not say "Well, we have started working on a seasons EP and we expect a beach GP to be finished soon" and then "Woops, looks like that beach GP is not coming after all." What are they so afraid of? That they can't deliver? If they are working on a specific pack, what's the fear in telling us? Something that is already in the making won't get suddenly scrapped at the final stages unless they are total amateurs.
This whole lack of communication with the playerbase is rather disgusting and shady. Whoever decided on that "policy" deserves to get fired, banned from game development industry, and given a solid slap, because favoring such policy is akin to favoring distrust, and favoring distrust among your playerbase is akin being a complete idiot.
I agree with everything 100%. It is so weird that they can't tell us. They should have the resources to finish a pack, and if not in time then they can delay and fans will understand. It's not like we're completely stupid.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
Comments
EXACTLY my view too.
"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.....
The Cowboy and the Mermaid
EXACTLY.
Exactly. One thing I've loved about Early Access titles (some of them, certainly not the majority) is the openness of the developers with their roadmap. Hyping an upcoming feature 2 months beforehand, sharing what will be coming, connecting with the players (you know, your 🐸🐸🐸🐸 customers that pay you for your product?) etc.
But these guys, holy 🐸🐸🐸🐸 man. It's all a secret, it's all "we can't talk about future content.". Like a bunch of amateurs that can't show their roadmap because it's a mess. A solid studio will not say "Well, we have started working on a seasons EP and we expect a beach GP to be finished soon" and then "Woops, looks like that beach GP is not coming after all." What are they so afraid of? That they can't deliver? If they are working on a specific pack, what's the fear in telling us? Something that is already in the making won't get suddenly scrapped at the final stages unless they are total amateurs.
This whole lack of communication with the playerbase is rather disgusting and shady. Whoever decided on that "policy" deserves to get fired, banned from game development industry, and given a solid slap, because favoring such policy is akin to favoring distrust, and favoring distrust among your playerbase is akin being a complete idiot.
I still love the game. Dearly so. I still play it, sadly so. I still have to jump through hoops to ensure this never happens to me again, and I still maintain a level of distrust for everything EA produces. I have no options though. I don't think going back to S1 was a bad idea at all in theory, provided they progressed, but it has proven to be a bad idea in practice. It was never the open world I disliked. It was the way it was handled with Story Progression that I disliked. There are other things, but this is not the place for me to elaborate on that.
What upset me most is S4 showed me a glimpse of how good an open world could have been. It showed me how much better building could have been. It showed me how much better many things could have been, but in practice, it failed at following through on how great it really could have been. It failed to offer me the basic customization even S2 offered. It went so far backwards that I don't even know where it went. I can't even be generous enough to call it S1.5. And the cosmetics don't cover a single flaw up. They become glaring. I should not have to resort to mods just to play the game. I didn't have to do that with the original The Sims.
I've been doing this since S2, and it's come to a point where it's sickening.
As for telemetry and toddlers, that is utter bullpoop. I have played with 5 toddlers in the last 2 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll admit I couldn't play with them in S3. I even admit I can't do babies in S4. It's a personal thing. But when I play S2, I can happily play all stages. Does this mean I neither like babies nor toddlers because I can't do one nor the other in S3 or S4? No! It means they're done poorly in both those games.
Quite frankly, they can shove their telemetry where the sun don't shine because it explains absolutely nothing in the greater scheme of things.
The silence only makes it all worse. I'm also ranting. Will stop now. Not your fault.
100 percent in agreement with all that you said. I know I felt bad for people who could not be part of the suite. I was right in the middle of it all first getting a dev to work one on one with me - and then when JR made them stop conversing with us - then a bunch of us simmers formed Reclaim Your Game.... which did tons to help simmers get through all that and aided the law suit. But yes I knew people in 3 different EA games (the Sims 2, Spore, and ME) that got caught up in that madness and the silencing force of JR. Funny only Maxis is still of the silence is golden principle of JR. So I know it is just Maxis and not what other studios do here at EA.
It is a fact communication brings people together - it always has and always will and is an asset where ever that becomes the rule. People are more understanding of many things when both sides communicate - it is never a good idea to leave people in the dark forming their own opinions. It is what creates divorces and even wars. It is much better to have a connection to people then to alienate them with a wall of silence - which is always seen as a harbinger of foreboding and some thing evil, or bad, or deceptive.
But I definitely understand every word you are saying and know well what you went thru then - and how we feel probably a whole lot alike and in agreement for sure. It is very sad indeed that things have not progressed still for everyone.
"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.....
Yes! You said it way better than I could have, but yes! I definitely feel like I'm being a bit taken advantage of and it's not a good feeling, especially not a good feeling coming from my favorite game of all time that I've supported since TS1
I know I feel like a broken record when this comes up but this just isn't the case. The info on the upcoming ME has been incredibly sparse. I don't think DAI got a real trailer (just some teasers, same as ME) until 5 months before release and the info on their dlc didn't come out until shortly before each dlc was released. At this point, most of the info we have on ME's next installment is leaked info and rumors. I don't know how the other studios under EA handle things but at the very least Maxis and Bioware have that in common.
I'm not a psychopath. I'm a high-functioning psychopath. Reaper
Ah. Yes. I was trying to remember the name of that site: reclaimyourgame. I had no idea you were part of that. Great work and many thanks. This site was liberating and freed me from many headaches. I can't even remember how I came upon it. But I do remember how life-changing it was when I could suddenly use my drives again. What an awful thing Securom was. I'm actually more mad at Sony (still) for inventing it than I am at EA for using it. What on earth were they thinking?
I have been seeing complaints on ME on Reddit a lot - on sparse info - and such, but was not sure if it was as bad as we have. But I could guess a lot of that is probably to do with the same issue as here seeing they too were part of all the uproar back in 2007/2008 with Securom and JR. I just think it is wrong and if they had good communication they would not have made the last DA terrible or the horrid ending in the prior ME game. That kind of stuff could have been as avoided as we are having here with Sims 4. Good communication is the answer not a wall of silence with a game the majority of people don't like.
"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.....
As much as I agree with you about communication, I don't think that was the issue with either DA2 (which, IMO, was a good game, just a bit lazy in how they reused a lot of assets/settings) or the ME3 ending (which was both time and arrogance, again IMO).
With Sims, though, communication would go a long way toward settling people and making them feel like Maxis is at least listening but, based on Bioware also being secretive and I guess someone else said Star Wars Battlefront is like that, I tend to think EA has some hand in limiting how much they communicate with their customers, unfortunately. I still suspect with Maxis a huge part of it is how badly they seem to handle any kind of customer communication to begin with.
I'm not a psychopath. I'm a high-functioning psychopath. Reaper
I'm an old simmer, and although I wish they would add toddlers and cars to the game, I am also a casual gamer, and Sims 4 is very much like a casual game. Casual games are intended to be played for far fewer hours than an enthusiast game (for example, playing out the entire story of most casual hidden object games takes about 48 hours tops, and then the game is over). However, it is way overpriced for a casual game. (Most casual games are under $20). I'll admit I overpaid for the base game, however, part of that was the price for early admission - I preordered, which I had never done before. I could have instead waited until the game went on sale (which all games eventually do), but I had no way of knowing how long I would have to wait for that, and so I paid to play early in the game's development.
In Sims 2, I tended to play Knowledge aspiration, Wealth aspiration, and Pleasure aspiration Sims, with the occasional Grilled Cheese aspiration sim. Part of that is because since there was no multitasking, I found working with more than 2 or 3 sims per household too challenging for me, since as a player I was the one having to do all the multitasking. (Many casual games are time management games, but I rarely got above about level 5 or 10 on games like Restaurant Dash.) Toddlers were fun in Sims 2, but I rarely got all 3 major life tasks (walk, talk, potty train) done before they aged up, and I didn't like sacrificing the aspirations of the Sim parents for the aspiration of the Sim toddler.
In Sims 3, I found it too hard to play in rotation, so I made several different save files - one for each world. I have never liked playing Sim households with babies though, since babies don't have any wishes/skills/aspirations, and mostly just tend to deplete the motives of the adult Sims in the household with the baby Sim, so whenever possible, I would always put off my Sims having babies until they had skill level 5 in most skills.
So as you may have guessed, I am not into creating large families of sims, nor even Sim legacies. This is one reason the absence of toddlers does not affect my gameplay. As to the absence of cars, one can simply use one's imagination, and imagine that the Sim is walking to the bus stop or the subway station. Admittedly, given the neighborhood map, it is not logical that one would take a bus or subway car that short a distance, so I do find the loading screens annoying, but by themselves, not a deal breaker, since they weren't in Sims 2. I don't miss the rabbitholes of Sims 3, and EA has shown us that the choice is between rabbitholes and loading screens with the present level of technology. I wish that it were otherwise of course, but wishing won't make it so. Lots of players complained about rabbitholes, so they went with loading screens for Sims 4. Still, it should be possible to add cars in at some point in time like they did with Sims 2 - if they don't, I will be disappointed. But at this point, I am considering Sims 4 as a separate game on its own, rather than an improved version of the previous games. When thought of this way, it beats other life simulation games on the market that are either multiplayer (Second Life, IMVU) or are in development, or have fewer features (Virtual Families, Kudos 2, Android/iOS games).
EA's general policy is to not just make the same games again if this can be avoided. Therefore EA has always told Maxis (and EA's other game developers) to find new main things for every edition of the games. This couldn't really be family play or cars - and it becomes more difficult for each edition of the game. Maxis chose multitasking, the new emotions and the new CAS for TS4. But then Maxis didn't have enough time to just repeat everything else too. So toddler, cars, and other things had to be removed and teens had to be simplified by giving them the same height as adults.
Most of this can't be repaired now because it would be too expensive and expansions have to contain new things too. (Otherwise they can't be expected to sell very well.) I therefore don't really expect them to add toddlers and they sure won't make teens shorter in TS4. Cars can easily be added though. But they still won't tell us until such an expansion is ready to be released.
There's probably more chance they'll add cars in the future. If they do that, it'd probably be like the cars in the Sims 2 because of the loading screens.
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Ok that is not what he said at all. He said quite clearly toddlers were in, and cars were in too. The only thing he couldn't confirm was if cars were fully animated, which is automatically no because the game doesn't even have cars like he said.
Above the interview, there is this mention "Below are the questions in no particular order and his responses based on how I remember him answering them. I only summarized what he said; I didn’t write his responses in full, so that I could save time".
So we don't know what his actual words were.
Doesn't make them pointless. The Sims 2 also had no open world, and still had cars. I think most people want them to add a bit more realism to their game. I just want to build houses with garages, and seeing my Sims drive off the drive way. I am not very interested in seeing my Sims driving a car all the way to a destination, but just skipping them because there is no open world is no excuse if you ask me.
Ugh. Missed that bit. So basically, not really quotations at all
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
Sims 2 had awesome fun car gameplay! I'd love Sims 2 type car gameplay back. I just don't much want cars that my Sims never physically interact with, or for them to be forced into them by the game: I want my Sims to walk and cycle and the like.
I agree with everything 100%. It is so weird that they can't tell us. They should have the resources to finish a pack, and if not in time then they can delay and fans will understand. It's not like we're completely stupid.