Another one of these threads. You'd think people would be bored by now. Is this forum on an endless loop ?
Not everyone reads the forums all of the time and bumping old threads is frowned on. People may create whatever type of threads they like as long as they follow the forum rules. And, as far as I know, there are no rules against making a post about something that other people have posted about.
If these threads are common and being created by different users, perhaps it just says something about the general state of the game and its reception. Why be irritated with other players for speaking up and having an opinion? It's not as if people commonly jump into threads praising TS4 and go "oh, another one of these? Aren't people bored of praising this game?"
I agree that the game is a step back. That doesn't mean that I think that it's completely awful or that there's no fun to be had in it at all. However, I think that in general it's not a very innovative game when compared to the rest of the series. I do believe that we've got the leftovers of a game that was supposed to be something else. It's possible that rather than watch money and development time go down the drain they tried to re-package it and sell it as something new. They spent time creating something different, plans fell apart, and they had deadlines and shareholders and blah blah to worry about. That's the only way TS4 makes sense to me. Otherwise, there's just no accounting for some of its bizarre design choices, like the tiny neighborhoods and the overabundance of loading screens.
The entire framework of their "you rule" marketing campaign was built on a foundation of lies, because in The Sims 4 we aren't given options to "rule" outside of how the developers imagine the game. It's just sad.
No, it is not like Sims 1 - Sims 3. It is something entirely different. They have made it goal oriented and have turned it into essentially a RPG game instead of a sandbox game. You really do not rule anything. How can you, when the game holds your hand and tells you what to do.
You know the age sliders, they slid the age. It was a key feature of the sims for 10 years.
Still don't know what you're talking about. Are you talking about an age bar where you can view how old the sim is? Cuz they have that in TS4 as long as you're playing as the sim.
The sliders were in the game options under game play there was a slider for each age group ie: child you could specify how many days you wanted to pass before your sims aged up.
I used to put babies at 2 days, toddlers 1 day, child 8 days, young adult 20 days, adult 30 days, elderly 6 days.
They could be changed through out your game.
I always loved these I didn't have to keep babies, toddlers, or elderly around long......Now you just have 3 choices for lifespan.
You know the age sliders, they slid the age. It was a key feature of the sims for 10 years.
Still don't know what you're talking about. Are you talking about an age bar where you can view how old the sim is? Cuz they have that in TS4 as long as you're playing as the sim.
The sliders were in the game options under game play there was a slider for each age group ie: child you could specify how many days you wanted to pass before your sims aged up.
I used to put babies at 2 days, toddlers 1 day, child 8 days, young adult 20 days, adult 30 days, elderly 6 days.
They could be changed through out your game.
I always loved these I didn't have to keep babies, toddlers, or elderly around long......Now you just have 3 choices for lifespan.
Yes but you can still set it for no aging and age them up when you're ready. It just requires a bit more tracking. Even with the age sliders in Sims 3 I would set it for the longest age span and then age up when I was ready.
Sims (the people) look like 2011 creations instead of 2009 creations, so they are definitely improved. I like the colors I see in the game. Not a fan of the (at last appearance wise) Nintendo 64-esque texture complexity, and world size that assumes no one can afford a computer with more than 4 gigs of memory. The rest doesn't look a step back, but instead a shoulder shrug-side step, followed by a silent 'tough luck'.
All true OP. And the steps backward are explained away by Maxis as being necessary to develop these wildly smart and emotional sims, which really still aren't. They have exaggerated animations but their "emotions" are often swinging or so easily changed as to be meaningless. There are a handful of useful improvements to the building system which I don't think make up for losing CASt and of course multi-tasking sims which is really the biggest change in the base game BUT that's really all there was for all that was taken out. Yes, I know the sliders in the CAS system were replaced with push and pull but I still don't get the cheer leading squad with that change. It's essentially the same mechanic but with a different interface, nice change but far from revolutionary. (Shrug) The game is what it is. Which is a salvaged online experience taken offline (for now), hemmed in on every side and most likely designed with an eye to a mostly mobile/tablet market five years down the road. Only now- a year and a half after launch!- with GT are they finally offering a true degree of customization through the grouping feature which should have launched with the base game sixteen months before since that's really the most game changing thing in the Sims 4 to date and might have really made me believe the tag line nonsense of the game really being focused on the "sims" this time around as if the other games were not. Anyway, same old song for the past year and a half...
Simnews 5, breaking news: Our world has been thrown back to the dark-ages by some unknown outside force. This unknown outside force has kidnapped our toddlers, and has taken away our age slide as well.
They told us before Sims 4 was launched that they had cut-out a lot of stuff that had been in the previous Sims games. So why is this still breaking news to some players?
I wouldn't say it went backwards. It's more like a sideways step and a genre change with no direction. Today, it may be risky woohoo, never weary, and alien abuctions. Tomorrow, it may not be those things at all. The next day, it may be something completely different, etc.
It's basically all over the place and not quite clear about what it wants to be. A step backwards, maybe not. All over the place and nowhere at all, maybe a little.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
There are huge improvements in Sims 4 in many respects, but in others, it's taken a major step backwards. What I would like to know is why would they concentrate and advertise the huge building improvements but at the same time never stop to consider that exterior buildings have to be furnished and decorated. How many times can you furnish a room or house with the same objects and colours that you were using months before without getting bored? It's just not possible!
Take a look at those mod pod beds - the colours are just dire. It's a similar story with many other objects in this game. The worst thing is, you can't change anything! Not a darned thing! Thumbs down big time there. Stuff packs come out and you would think that the new objects might just match up with previous content? Don't be silly! That's much too easy to even consider; who cares? Well, I care, for one.
If you're going to create a game which pushes the idea of building, then surely, surely, you would consider the importance of furnishing those buildings in a way that is likely to keep players occupied and amused.
For me, personally, it's a major failing of Sims 4 which should be addressed. Why? Because they are going to lose a customer if they don't which may not seem like a big deal to EA but it is definitely a big deal to someone who has invested their money and literally hours and hours of game play supporting their games in the past. To be dumped in such a way is a MAJOR let down and a MAJOR turn off.
Don't tell me 'You rule!' Don't go there; it's simply NOT true.
There are huge improvements in Sims 4 in many respects, but in others, it's taken a major step backwards. What I would like to know is why would they concentrate and advertise the huge building improvements but at the same time never stop to consider that exterior buildings have to be furnished and decorated. How many times can you furnish a room or house with the same objects and colours that you were using months before without getting bored? It's just not possible!
Take a look at those mod pod beds - the colours are just dire. It's a similar story with many other objects in this game. The worst thing is, you can't change anything! Not a darned thing! Thumbs down big time there. Stuff packs come out and you would think that the new objects might just match up with previous content? Don't be silly! That's much too easy to even consider; who cares? Well, I care, for one.
If you're going to create a game which pushes the idea of building, then surely, surely, you would consider the importance of furnishing those buildings in a way that is likely to keep players occupied and amused.
For me, personally, it's a major failing of Sims 4 which should be addressed. Why? Because they are going to lose a customer if they don't which may not seem like a big deal to EA but it is definitely a big deal to someone who has invested their money and literally hours and hours of game play supporting their games in the past. To be dumped in such a way is a MAJOR let down and a MAJOR turn off.
Don't tell me 'You rule!' Don't go there; it's simply NOT true.
Not to mention there is also no way to edit the towns, or even to create them.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
What bugs me is no open world, and then you basically get a neighborhood with 5 lots to build on.
Ok, I understand TS4 has no open world, but at least give us large neighborhoods as we had in the past, or even better, a world creation tool. I loved TS2 in that regard, because it gave me the freedom to place as many lots as I wanted in my neighborhoods. TS3 was more restrictive in that regard, but still great.
There's pretty much nothing I see as an improvement except for Build mode and creating Sims in CAS. Everything else is just fluff to me.
"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." - William Henry Gates III
I will say that the game does not hold my interest as much as the previous games did. I really only spend my time building in it anymore. And although I think they have come a long way with respect to the CAS and Build/Buy areas, particularly for those who were intimidated by these things, it still needs more work. I don't think I need to repeat what it needs as it has been said many times before on the forum. The CAW folks and the family players have been left out completely. Now I am not necessarily a family player or a world builder, but I think everyone is entitled to be recognized for their playstyle and have it reflected in the game. It is not just about me. It is about everyone.
Another one of these threads. You'd think people would be bored by now. Is this forum on an endless loop ?
People are free to create whichever thread they want to create, just as we are free not to click on threads that don't interest us. You're right about this endless loop though, the endless loop of criticism of member's opinions and threads.
There's 1 favorite screenshot thread that gets updated all the time. There's 1 happy play thread. There was 1 big family play silence thread until it derailed from it's purpose. There's billions of these kinds of threads by now.
If all they can do is repeat the same plum that's always said the threads are pointless and they can just comment in an older thread instead of opening a completely new one. Tell me how this would not have fit with the other "Sims 4 is a step back" "Sims 4 ? More like Sims 1.5!" "So much left out from previous games!" posts.
Not everyone spends all day in this forum and knows every single thread that's ever been created a lot of people just pop-in occasionally to say their piece and there's nothing wrong with that IMO. This is a forum for the entire community, not just the 20 or so who live in here.
Thank you very much, this should explain everything. Sometimes I wonder about people through their posts. SMH
Nothing to see. I don't even care about the forums.
The newbies may find this version of the Sims appealing but I have been with this franchise since day 1 and we have gone backwards.
1.Babies are nothing more then objects and skip the toddler stage to become a 10 year old.
2.Gotta teleport to visit across the street or the lot next door.
3.No more color wheel.
4.No more age sliders.
Over a decade and the Sims have gone backwards.
what age slider? I've been playing since sims 2 and only saw this on TSM where every sim in an adult. I played TS3 until about 2013-14 and never saw a patched age slider either.
EDIT: oh, you're talking about those sliders on game settings where you could set how many sim days each life stage would last? I liked that a lot, but the lack of it isn't something I'm actually missing. See, I played TS3 for years without it.
You know the age sliders, they slid the age. It was a key feature of the sims for 10 years.
This feature was patched in sims 3 years after the basegame came out.
The OP's point is: now it's gone, therefore backwards not forwards
I haven't played TS4 enough to observe what is progressive and new about this iteration, but I have played long enough to observe how backwards it's gone--that's why I'm just sticking to the old games now.
The newbies may find this version of the Sims appealing but I have been with this franchise since day 1 and we have gone backwards.
1.Babies are nothing more then objects and skip the toddler stage to become a 10 year old.
2.Gotta teleport to visit across the street or the lot next door.
3.No more color wheel.
4.No more age sliders.
Over a decade and the Sims have gone backwards.
I am not a newbie and I like the game. I have been with the franchise since The Sims.
The newbies may find this version of the Sims appealing but I have been with this franchise since day 1 and we have gone backwards.
1.Babies are nothing more then objects and skip the toddler stage to become a 10 year old.
2.Gotta teleport to visit across the street or the lot next door.
3.No more color wheel.
4.No more age sliders.
Over a decade and the Sims have gone backwards.
I am not a newbie and I like the game. I have been with the franchise since The Sims.
It's great that you like the game. You're very lucky and I'm envious. Now all I need to be in your position is for some of the things which drew me to the game originally to reappear and then we can both be happy. Sounds like a good deal to me......
You know the age sliders, they slid the age. It was a key feature of the sims for 10 years.
Still don't know what you're talking about. Are you talking about an age bar where you can view how old the sim is? Cuz they have that in TS4 as long as you're playing as the sim.
If you played on Epic in Sims3, for instance, you could use the sliders to determine just how many days each age stage would last. That's what I believe the OP was referring to. So much better than Simply having X amount of days for a Sims' life, as in Sims2. When I read that we would have a selection of age lengths, I had really hoped they kept the slider from Sims3. Sadness, they did not. What they meant is Short, Normal, Long. However, I've used my own "walk around" inasmuch as I play Long when not playing a Legacy Challenge game, and age my Sims up using the cake whenever I feel like it.
I have to agree with some of the previous posters who said the game isn't as exciting as it used to be. Sure, there are moments. But when I played TS3 I lost hours and didn't even notice. With TS4 I open the game, play for a bit and when a loading screen comes I just go surfing on the internet, sometimes forgetting that I was even playing. Or maybe I'm just too old now (I'm 29) and have grown out of it...
OP I agree The Sims 4 is nothing special in terms of "new experiences". Each and every sims game has offered new experiences, and comparing them The Sims 4 offers literally the least amount of "new" stuff.
CAS and Build Mode are the two highlights of the entire game. Gameplay is so exaggerated and boring, and not to mention repetitive (goals, goals, goals, group chat & skills pretty much sums up The Sims 4 experience). Cradle to grave experience? Nope, bipolar sims were more important than that.
Bottom line, these people wasted years of dev work on a game no one wanted (or even liked), and then sold us this reworked version of the same game whilst giving us the impression it was the best game ever. As far as I'm concerned, the problems I have with The Sims 4 run deeper than just what they've downgraded; the game lacks depth, and that isn't something they can patch in or add via DLC. I think the entire thing as a whole just represents how little respect EA/Maxis actually has for the people who purchase their products.
2, 3, 4 all have goals goals goals. You don't have to do them. In Sims 2 you have to do the goals or you must cheat. The biggest change (Aspiration System) in terms of gameplay was goal focused.
Sims 3 had oppuntinities which worked similar to career and aspiration goals in Sims 4. All of which are optional. You can get promoted in Sims 4 without completing goals it just takes a lot longer and constant good performance and successfully completing chance cards.
And the Sims 4 has a lot of depth. It just may not be in the areas you see fit. I mean get 8 Sims to explore a Skill each and there's heaps of depth there already.
The entire framework of their "you rule" marketing campaign was built on a foundation of lies, because in The Sims 4 we aren't given options to "rule" outside of how the developers imagine the game. It's just sad.
And how is that different from any other Sims game? Sure, we had CASt in Sims 3, but apart from that, it's not like you could rule your games? You couldn't even rule your own business in Sims 3, the game did it for you.
The entire framework of their "you rule" marketing campaign was built on a foundation of lies, because in The Sims 4 we aren't given options to "rule" outside of how the developers imagine the game. It's just sad.
And how is that different from any other Sims game? Sure, we had CASt in Sims 3, but apart from that, it's not like you could rule your games? You couldn't even rule your own business in Sims 3, the game did it for you.
The slogan for TS3 was play with life, and seeing how you had a full suite of age groups all complete with different interactions that slogan is 100% on point.
"You Rule" was created for TS4, and only pertains to TS4.
I'm gonna respectfully agree to disagree on the post above the quoted one.
Comments
Not everyone reads the forums all of the time and bumping old threads is frowned on. People may create whatever type of threads they like as long as they follow the forum rules. And, as far as I know, there are no rules against making a post about something that other people have posted about.
If these threads are common and being created by different users, perhaps it just says something about the general state of the game and its reception. Why be irritated with other players for speaking up and having an opinion? It's not as if people commonly jump into threads praising TS4 and go "oh, another one of these? Aren't people bored of praising this game?"
I agree that the game is a step back. That doesn't mean that I think that it's completely awful or that there's no fun to be had in it at all. However, I think that in general it's not a very innovative game when compared to the rest of the series. I do believe that we've got the leftovers of a game that was supposed to be something else. It's possible that rather than watch money and development time go down the drain they tried to re-package it and sell it as something new. They spent time creating something different, plans fell apart, and they had deadlines and shareholders and blah blah to worry about. That's the only way TS4 makes sense to me. Otherwise, there's just no accounting for some of its bizarre design choices, like the tiny neighborhoods and the overabundance of loading screens.
The entire framework of their "you rule" marketing campaign was built on a foundation of lies, because in The Sims 4 we aren't given options to "rule" outside of how the developers imagine the game. It's just sad.
The sliders were in the game options under game play there was a slider for each age group ie: child you could specify how many days you wanted to pass before your sims aged up.
I used to put babies at 2 days, toddlers 1 day, child 8 days, young adult 20 days, adult 30 days, elderly 6 days.
They could be changed through out your game.
I always loved these I didn't have to keep babies, toddlers, or elderly around long......Now you just have 3 choices for lifespan.
Yes but you can still set it for no aging and age them up when you're ready. It just requires a bit more tracking. Even with the age sliders in Sims 3 I would set it for the longest age span and then age up when I was ready.
They told us before Sims 4 was launched that they had cut-out a lot of stuff that had been in the previous Sims games. So why is this still breaking news to some players?
It's basically all over the place and not quite clear about what it wants to be. A step backwards, maybe not. All over the place and nowhere at all, maybe a little.
Take a look at those mod pod beds - the colours are just dire. It's a similar story with many other objects in this game. The worst thing is, you can't change anything! Not a darned thing! Thumbs down big time there. Stuff packs come out and you would think that the new objects might just match up with previous content? Don't be silly! That's much too easy to even consider; who cares? Well, I care, for one.
If you're going to create a game which pushes the idea of building, then surely, surely, you would consider the importance of furnishing those buildings in a way that is likely to keep players occupied and amused.
For me, personally, it's a major failing of Sims 4 which should be addressed. Why? Because they are going to lose a customer if they don't which may not seem like a big deal to EA but it is definitely a big deal to someone who has invested their money and literally hours and hours of game play supporting their games in the past. To be dumped in such a way is a MAJOR let down and a MAJOR turn off.
Don't tell me 'You rule!' Don't go there; it's simply NOT true.
Not to mention there is also no way to edit the towns, or even to create them.
Ok, I understand TS4 has no open world, but at least give us large neighborhoods as we had in the past, or even better, a world creation tool. I loved TS2 in that regard, because it gave me the freedom to place as many lots as I wanted in my neighborhoods. TS3 was more restrictive in that regard, but still great.
There's pretty much nothing I see as an improvement except for Build mode and creating Sims in CAS. Everything else is just fluff to me.
Twists In Time And Space (Updated December 2nd 2018. New discord server!)
Bob Bobson (Updated August 12th 2019)
Thank you very much, this should explain everything. Sometimes I wonder about people through their posts. SMH
what age slider? I've been playing since sims 2 and only saw this on TSM where every sim in an adult. I played TS3 until about 2013-14 and never saw a patched age slider either.
EDIT: oh, you're talking about those sliders on game settings where you could set how many sim days each life stage would last? I liked that a lot, but the lack of it isn't something I'm actually missing. See, I played TS3 for years without it.
The OP's point is: now it's gone, therefore backwards not forwards
I haven't played TS4 enough to observe what is progressive and new about this iteration, but I have played long enough to observe how backwards it's gone--that's why I'm just sticking to the old games now.
It's great that you like the game. You're very lucky and I'm envious. Now all I need to be in your position is for some of the things which drew me to the game originally to reappear and then we can both be happy. Sounds like a good deal to me......
If you played on Epic in Sims3, for instance, you could use the sliders to determine just how many days each age stage would last. That's what I believe the OP was referring to. So much better than Simply having X amount of days for a Sims' life, as in Sims2. When I read that we would have a selection of age lengths, I had really hoped they kept the slider from Sims3. Sadness, they did not. What they meant is Short, Normal, Long. However, I've used my own "walk around" inasmuch as I play Long when not playing a Legacy Challenge game, and age my Sims up using the cake whenever I feel like it.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
2, 3, 4 all have goals goals goals. You don't have to do them. In Sims 2 you have to do the goals or you must cheat. The biggest change (Aspiration System) in terms of gameplay was goal focused.
Sims 3 had oppuntinities which worked similar to career and aspiration goals in Sims 4. All of which are optional. You can get promoted in Sims 4 without completing goals it just takes a lot longer and constant good performance and successfully completing chance cards.
And the Sims 4 has a lot of depth. It just may not be in the areas you see fit. I mean get 8 Sims to explore a Skill each and there's heaps of depth there already.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
And how is that different from any other Sims game? Sure, we had CASt in Sims 3, but apart from that, it's not like you could rule your games? You couldn't even rule your own business in Sims 3, the game did it for you.
Insta: https://instagram.com/jkarajs?igshid=oef2ymrand3g
The slogan for TS3 was play with life, and seeing how you had a full suite of age groups all complete with different interactions that slogan is 100% on point.
"You Rule" was created for TS4, and only pertains to TS4.
I'm gonna respectfully agree to disagree on the post above the quoted one.