In the minority but I don't like this. Could pets not be spontaneous without removing this option? People not wanting to control them could choose not to but those that wanted to could.
That's how it was in Sims 3 and yes, they weren't spontaneous. It was a very common complaint about pets and a big reason a lot of people uninstalled it.
Why is no one else upset at the lack of being able to control pets in the upcoming expansion? Why are we being limited in a game we are supposed to have full creativity and control over? I feel like everyone drank the Kool-Aid and thinks this is a great idea. I'm not convinced. I had free will in Sims 3 but NOT free will here in Sims 4 for my pet? Every new release feels like a step back and a slap in the face.
Also, that presentation video was bizarre. The audience was dead. That "celebrity dog" bit was awkward. The lady speaking sounded nervous. It felt uncomfortable for me as a viewer.
What in the world is going on?!
Because the majority of us asked for it this way and want it this way.
They are both bugged. I never said that TS4 wasn't; in fact you quoted my comments about the simulation lag. Like I said, a fair comparison is to compare when both games are running as expected. TS3 can't catch up to TS4 even on its best day.
I have never seen TS4 running as intended. The ADHD plagued my sims from the moment I bought the base game. So you're saying "compare the games, but in theory only please".
Yeah and not to mention you need a system that is a lot better to get Sims 3 to run properly with decent graphics. Sims 4 is a lot kinder to people who cant afford super rigs for gaming. I did play sims 3 a few years ago and all the issues made it very frustrating
I'm running a thread here to see what kind of rigs can run without simulation lag. Some of them are good 3000-4000$ PCs. It's actually cheaper for me to run TS3 without problems than it is to upgrade my system to run TS4 without problems.
"The lady was nervous" is not really throwing her under the bus. If anything it just shows that she's uncomfortable with large audiences (I would be too) and maybe EA should find a presenter who is comfortable on stage. Some of us are better in small groups, some on the internet and some can hype up stadiums. You need to be a very special person to hype up a stadium, so it's not really a failure to fail that.
That's how it was in Sims 3 and yes, they weren't spontaneous. It was a very common complaint about pets and a big reason a lot of people uninstalled it.
to me they were not any less or more spontaneous than TS2 pets. I would rarely control them (it was mostly to fix something that they wouldn't do, which I had to cheat to do in TS2, or to get them interacting with another animal) and they would do plenty of spontaneous things. My cat would jump on my sims lap when he was watching TV. My cat would also sctratch his sofa and chase bugs outside. Like my cats in real life do.
Why is no one else upset at the lack of being able to control pets in the upcoming expansion? Why are we being limited in a game we are supposed to have full creativity and control over? I feel like everyone drank the Kool-Aid and thinks this is a great idea. I'm not convinced. I had free will in Sims 3 but NOT free will here in Sims 4 for my pet? Every new release feels like a step back and a slap in the face.
I agree with you it is yet another limitation.
I certainly had no idea so many people wanted it that way.
To be fair I didn't like Pets in TS2 or TS3 so I'm not buying it for TS4.
Regardless, I'm definitely not a fan of restrictive gameplay.
I hope pets function better than butlers...
Can someone just level with me for a second. I'm seeing a lot of people rejoicing over this but in what way is (once again) not giving players a choice, in the Sims, a good thing? Like...I can understand not being bothered by this because you didnt necessarily like controlling your pets...but to be happy that you don't even have the option to? You always had the choice of whether or not you could control pets. Even in TS2.
I don't use twitter and talking to anyone other than Graham rarely gives the desired answer. So can somebody please ask tweet them and ask if we at least have a cheat that makes pets playable? This'll be my deciding factor on this pack. If cheats can make them playable, I won't complain about it anymore.
Keep in mind some of us prefer NOT having the option. It's not just a matter of being 'okay' with it. Besides, controlling pets wasn't really optional anyway due to the buggy nature of the game. I like having an influence on my pets while they maintain their independence. It's more realistic and less frustrating.
But how does having the option to do that stop you from not doing it the way you want to? That kinda defeats the purpose of having the option. If you don't wanna control your pets, that's perfectly fine. Keep your autonomy on and let them go nuts. But that shouldn't mean people who do want to control them shouldn't get the chance to.
I'm a control freak when it comes to these games. Everything's gotta he done exactly how I want it. My sims don't even age without me telling them to (It's actually kinda funny how I'm such a perfectionist in these games but far from it in real life lol). I need that constant feeling of being in control for me to get the of amount of enjoyment out of a Sims game. That's just how I am with creative stuff. But with TS4, I'm getting less and less of that feeling as time goes on
Just found out that there will be no cheat to make pets playable
Welp. That's it for me. Better luck next expansion. We only get one a year now, right?
I already explained that in my previous posts. To sum it up, I much prefer the way animals behaved in the Sims 2 versus 3. If making them uncontrollable is why they are so lively, I'm all for it. I didn't want a repeat of the Sims 3 pets.
*As for the "keep your autonomy on and let them go nuts," that's just it, they didn't go nuts because they were usually sitting around waiting. Cats and dogs were quite stiff and nothing like what we're getting with this expansion.
You having the option to control pets means we get boring, inactive pets.
Sounds like you had a slow CPU that couldn't keep up with the gameplay which is why Sims/Pets just sit around. That is not a game issue but a hardware issue. Sims and Pets are quite active in my game though I only have one dog and two cats in the world so far.
So apparently, less is more and that's okay because your computer can handle it? That's one reason why TS4 lacks so much depth because the trade-off was to greatly widen the playability of those who have old hardware and cannot upgrade whatever the reason. But is it truly worth it to leave out and ignore the hardcore players who does have the funds to keep up with PC gaming? Not saying to forget about compatibility with lower-end computers but with TS4 there is no balance between the two just as there is no balance between realism and cartoony.
Nah, I have an i7 @ 4.10 GHz. No matter how active you say your pets are in the Sims 3, it's nothing compared to what we saw in the Sims 4. It's like comparing general autonomy in TS3 to TS4. There is no comparison. I personally don't see it as less is more. It's just more.
My pets are constantly running around and busy in Sims 3. I'm not sure what exactly you are referring to in the footage? Autonomy in Sims 3 (sims) by the way is much more varied than in Sims 4.
ETA:
You mean, sitting down to eat your dinner and having a conversation with your family member versus the ADHD of absolutely NEEDING to multitask, so you grab your plate, you run to the town square to wave at the hobo that's sleeping on the bench, BUT WAIT, you must also drink water at the same time!
Lol. But when they multitask, they do it awfully quick don't they? As opposed to the 5 real life minutes it would take to do the same in TS3.
I can pick out bugs in TS3's autonomy, too. I'm talking about efficiency and responsiveness.
That's so completely the other way around that I'm not even sure if you're being serious now.
It bothered me a little when I first learned pets wouldn't be playable, considering you could control them in TS3 (I never played TS2 with pets). But now that I think of it, I guess it doesn't really matter to me. I like the idea of spontaneity; it adds to the fun within my gameplay. Aside from that, I didn't control pets much in TS3 because I don't find much enjoyment in playing as a dog or a cat or whatever. I never played supernatural creatures either; I'm all for the human sims.
I get why some people are upset, though. It technically is a step back, and the option to control (for those who want to) would've been nice. But at the end of the day, it's true that developers can't please every single person, so.
“... and when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.”
― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life
If they were able to do options and switches in TS3 and not at all in TS4, we have a serious issue here. Though I suppose we knew that we had a serious issue for a very long while now. Their engine has great amount of limitations when it comes to building this game and it seems that there's no escaping that.
Everyone that has played Sims 3 pets and not Sims 2 pets, should give Sims 4 pets a fair chance. I am sure you will change your mind. WTS, not controlling your pets is just so much more realistic.
Everyone that has played Sims 3 pets and not Sims 2 pets, should give Sims 4 pets a fair chance. I am sure you will change your mind. WTS, not controlling your pets is just so much more realistic.
I played both and I still think that it's a step down.
Everyone that has played Sims 3 pets and not Sims 2 pets, should give Sims 4 pets a fair chance. I am sure you will change your mind. WTS, not controlling your pets is just so much more realistic.
I agree, it's too early to write the game off after a minute and a half trailer. But then I've come from the sims 1 and Unleashed was a great EP and you couldn't control your pets either. I like the sims 2 and 3 pets but I'm not one bit bothered I can't play as a pet.
I guess I’m having a hard time picturing unplayable pets because I don’t remember ts2 that well. Like I know I played it but I was 7 when it first came out so I vaguely remember playing versus 3 because it’s still so recent and because I still play it the most.
Grant worked on all Pets expansions for all sims, and he said TS4 Cats and Dogs is his favorite, and they decided on making them unable to be controlled after months of meetings on this topic and he was 100% sure they made the right decision because this enables pets to be unique, expressive, lifelike and unpredictable. This guy made all sims pets expansions you guys. He knows what he is doing. This is the same guy that made your The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 pets, and he said this is the best pets expansion he made *he made all of them.
I trust his decision because he clearly knows what he is doing. We didn't even see how pets work in game. Maybe this decision allows a lot of cool stuff in game to make TS4 pets better than the rest. This same guy said the decision on making them uncontrollable is the biggest improvement over The Sims 3 Pets (and he created The Sims 3 Pets). So let's wait and see how they behave in game, maybe we'll be surprised and we'll see how this is a non issue.
Remember you will be able to control your pets by calling them to you and issuing commands of actions they will do. It's indirect instead of direct, but you can still control them. You just can't select them and order them to do things while they're the active sim. You can order them to do stuff while a human sim is active. This is all on his twitter if you want to check for yourself.
I hope too. you realize when the entire household sleeps and the butler still awake in game speed 3 doesn't run as fast as it should be, I got so fedup with this issue, sack the butler and I've never hired another one since then. I really do hope pets don't affect the speed since we are not being able to control them, we can't even click on them to 'go here' so uncontrollable isn't a good thing for me but I told myself to keep an open mind; I've played sim 1, skipped sim 2 and jump right to sim 3 so this version of pets is entirely new experience for me...we'll see
Grant worked on all Pets expansions for all sims, and he said TS4 Cats and Dogs is his favorite, and they decided on making them unable to be controlled after months of meetings on this topic and he was 100% sure they made the right decision because this enables pets to be unique, expressive, lifelike and unpredictable. This guy made all sims pets expansions you guys. He knows what he is doing. This is the same guy that made your The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 pets, and he said this is the best pets expansion he made *he made all of them.
You're trying to sell a product that you just made. Do you come out and go "well we tried our best to work with the limitations, but honestly the limitations were too huge, so this product is just not that good"? Or do you go "yes, it is awesome and you should buy it right now! It's the dopest thing ever!"
How do you think anyone can say the first sentence and not get sacked? Of course everything he makes now is his favourite, because he needs to generate sales for the product he just made.
Sims 4 Toddlers are the best in the series so far, so I really hope Sims 4 pets will be a huge improvement over the past series. Even if we can't directly control them. I'm still struggling with that, since in Sims 2 you couldn't even have your sim click on a dog bed and tell their pet to lay down there, and the interactions just seemed limited. I hope Sims 4 Cats and Dogs expands on the Sim/Pet relationship a lot more. I understand why they chose to go for uncontrollable pets, but I want our SIMS to at least gave a deeper relationship with their pet, and mire ways to interact.
I'm okay with it. I did like TS3 pets but it isn't a soul destroying blow for me. I did take note of there only being cats and dogs, which had me for a time. Although, I have got from the forum that some people want a form of agriculture so my horses may come in time. I'm happy to have a new world and career. When I read that you can take your pets for walks... I would have hoped that they'd add prams for a sim to take their baby or toddler for a stroll at some point. But for now I'm grateful for another expansion pack (almost forgot all about them).
p.s University and seasons are the ones I've been itching for, honestly.
Grant worked on all Pets expansions for all sims, and he said TS4 Cats and Dogs is his favorite, and they decided on making them unable to be controlled after months of meetings on this topic and he was 100% sure they made the right decision because this enables pets to be unique, expressive, lifelike and unpredictable. This guy made all sims pets expansions you guys. He knows what he is doing. This is the same guy that made your The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 pets, and he said this is the best pets expansion he made *he made all of them.
You're trying to sell a product that you just made. Do you come out and go "well we tried our best to work with the limitations, but honestly the limitations were too huge, so this product is just not that good"? Or do you go "yes, it is awesome and you should buy it right now! It's the dopest thing ever!"
How do you think anyone can say the first sentence and not get sacked? Of course everything he makes now is his favourite, because he needs to generate sales for the product he just made.
He straight up said he could make them controllable because the Sims 4 engine doesn't limit that, but they did it as a design decision. You'd think the man that did the pets expansions knows how to make a good one by now.
He straight up said he could make them controllable because the Sims 4 engine doesn't limit that, but they did it as a design decision. You'd think the man that did the pets expansions knows how to make a good one by now.
Because you would TELL your clients that your engine is limited?
OF COURSE it's a "design" decision.
They are both bugged. I never said that TS4 wasn't; in fact you quoted my comments about the simulation lag. Like I said, a fair comparison is to compare when both games are running as expected. TS3 can't catch up to TS4 even on its best day.
I have never seen TS4 running as intended. The ADHD plagued my sims from the moment I bought the base game. So you're saying "compare the games, but in theory only please".
Yeah and not to mention you need a system that is a lot better to get Sims 3 to run properly with decent graphics. Sims 4 is a lot kinder to people who cant afford super rigs for gaming. I did play sims 3 a few years ago and all the issues made it very frustrating
I'm running a thread here to see what kind of rigs can run without simulation lag. Some of them are good 3000-4000$ PCs. It's actually cheaper for me to run TS3 without problems than it is to upgrade my system to run TS4 without problems.
"The lady was nervous" is not really throwing her under the bus. If anything it just shows that she's uncomfortable with large audiences (I would be too) and maybe EA should find a presenter who is comfortable on stage. Some of us are better in small groups, some on the internet and some can hype up stadiums. You need to be a very special person to hype up a stadium, so it's not really a failure to fail that.
That's how it was in Sims 3 and yes, they weren't spontaneous. It was a very common complaint about pets and a big reason a lot of people uninstalled it.
to me they were not any less or more spontaneous than TS2 pets. I would rarely control them (it was mostly to fix something that they wouldn't do, which I had to cheat to do in TS2, or to get them interacting with another animal) and they would do plenty of spontaneous things. My cat would jump on my sims lap when he was watching TV. My cat would also sctratch his sofa and chase bugs outside. Like my cats in real life do.
So do you play sims 4 for anything other than to find what is wrong with it? It seems like you greatly prefer sims 3
It would have been nice if you had the option to control your pet, again one must remember it is EA/Maxis vision and not the customer's vision. However it is not an deal breaker and Pet's was the lowest priority on my list. I wished Season would have been the next EP being I am tired of Summer. Sims 4 is less Sandbox more about goals.
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So do you play sims 4 for anything other than to find what is wrong with it? It seems like you greatly prefer sims 3
I actually prefer The Sims 2.
Was discussing on discord how The Sims 4 really does not fit my playstyle. You see in The Sims 2 I play rotationally. I build stories and I build communities. It's normal for me to have thousand hour save files, because I simply like for the towns to evolve.
The Sims 3 does not support that type of play. When I play The Sims 3 I mostly use a single family member as an avatar to look at the world around them. The fun comes from seeing your brothers and sisters live independently, on their own, creating and expanding their own families. You go to meet your brother's children, you introduce yourself to your grandchildren. The world plays itself and you're just a tiny bit of it.
The Sims 4 is structured like The Sims 2. With there being no story progression outside of aging and with the ability to freeze played families, you would think that the game is set up for rotational play, except with a bit more life from your neighbours. Your neighbours will age and die, but you can sellect your families to stay frozen in time. Well The Sims 4 suffers from massive bouts of save file decay. You can counter that for a while by switching autonomy off completely, but just the NPCs being autonomous (and soon pets too) the save file still builds up simulation lag over time. Until eventually you're 500-600-700 hours in and your mailman is frozen still. To me that makes me not want to bother? Why would I make a family and breed my dog ruffles, if his 8 times removed grand-pup will have to get deleted in a save file purge?
I always felt like it was pretty obvious this time around we won't have that much control. I understand the disappointment though, I'm a little bit of a control freak when it comes to my households and I'm very sorry to all the people who wanted to micromanage their pets as well. Yet again I'll say on this forum that a game like the sims should offer options.
However, as a pet owner, I'm happy with this choice. I often find myself being controlled by my doggie as opposed to controlling it and I guess that's even more true for all the cat owners Owning a pet comes not only with responsibility but also with a certain spontaneity and excitement, something that TS3 pets severely lacked for me. It was neat to control them and have them interact with the world the way we wanted to, but most of the time it felt overwhelming. TS2 pets were not perfect but so weren't toddlers, in any of the previous iterations for that matter and the way they went on about them in TS4 gives me hope for cats and dogs. I'll refrain from any harsher judgements until we actually get to play them. There's gotta be some way to influence our pets' behavior.
Comments
That's how it was in Sims 3 and yes, they weren't spontaneous. It was a very common complaint about pets and a big reason a lot of people uninstalled it.
Because the majority of us asked for it this way and want it this way.
I have never seen TS4 running as intended. The ADHD plagued my sims from the moment I bought the base game. So you're saying "compare the games, but in theory only please".
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/923605/dear-simmers-i-need-your-help#latest
I'm running a thread here to see what kind of rigs can run without simulation lag. Some of them are good 3000-4000$ PCs. It's actually cheaper for me to run TS3 without problems than it is to upgrade my system to run TS4 without problems.
"The lady was nervous" is not really throwing her under the bus. If anything it just shows that she's uncomfortable with large audiences (I would be too) and maybe EA should find a presenter who is comfortable on stage. Some of us are better in small groups, some on the internet and some can hype up stadiums. You need to be a very special person to hype up a stadium, so it's not really a failure to fail that.
you asked for us to not have the option to choose? Wow, thanks buddy!
to me they were not any less or more spontaneous than TS2 pets. I would rarely control them (it was mostly to fix something that they wouldn't do, which I had to cheat to do in TS2, or to get them interacting with another animal) and they would do plenty of spontaneous things. My cat would jump on my sims lap when he was watching TV. My cat would also sctratch his sofa and chase bugs outside. Like my cats in real life do.
I certainly had no idea so many people wanted it that way.
To be fair I didn't like Pets in TS2 or TS3 so I'm not buying it for TS4.
Regardless, I'm definitely not a fan of restrictive gameplay.
I hope pets function better than butlers...
Your quote Is messed up and I can't fix it
ETA: That's so completely the other way around that I'm not even sure if you're being serious now.
I get why some people are upset, though. It technically is a step back, and the option to control (for those who want to) would've been nice. But at the end of the day, it's true that developers can't please every single person, so.
― Ruskin Bond, Scenes from a Writer's Life
If they were able to do options and switches in TS3 and not at all in TS4, we have a serious issue here. Though I suppose we knew that we had a serious issue for a very long while now. Their engine has great amount of limitations when it comes to building this game and it seems that there's no escaping that.
I played both and I still think that it's a step down.
I agree, it's too early to write the game off after a minute and a half trailer. But then I've come from the sims 1 and Unleashed was a great EP and you couldn't control your pets either. I like the sims 2 and 3 pets but I'm not one bit bothered I can't play as a pet.
I do understand why people are upset though.
I trust his decision because he clearly knows what he is doing. We didn't even see how pets work in game. Maybe this decision allows a lot of cool stuff in game to make TS4 pets better than the rest. This same guy said the decision on making them uncontrollable is the biggest improvement over The Sims 3 Pets (and he created The Sims 3 Pets). So let's wait and see how they behave in game, maybe we'll be surprised and we'll see how this is a non issue.
Remember you will be able to control your pets by calling them to you and issuing commands of actions they will do. It's indirect instead of direct, but you can still control them. You just can't select them and order them to do things while they're the active sim. You can order them to do stuff while a human sim is active. This is all on his twitter if you want to check for yourself.
I hope too. you realize when the entire household sleeps and the butler still awake in game speed 3 doesn't run as fast as it should be, I got so fedup with this issue, sack the butler and I've never hired another one since then. I really do hope pets don't affect the speed since we are not being able to control them, we can't even click on them to 'go here' so uncontrollable isn't a good thing for me but I told myself to keep an open mind; I've played sim 1, skipped sim 2 and jump right to sim 3 so this version of pets is entirely new experience for me...we'll see
The Sims Game
You're trying to sell a product that you just made. Do you come out and go "well we tried our best to work with the limitations, but honestly the limitations were too huge, so this product is just not that good"? Or do you go "yes, it is awesome and you should buy it right now! It's the dopest thing ever!"
How do you think anyone can say the first sentence and not get sacked? Of course everything he makes now is his favourite, because he needs to generate sales for the product he just made.
p.s University and seasons are the ones I've been itching for, honestly.
He straight up said he could make them controllable because the Sims 4 engine doesn't limit that, but they did it as a design decision. You'd think the man that did the pets expansions knows how to make a good one by now.
Because you would TELL your clients that your engine is limited?
OF COURSE it's a "design" decision.
So do you play sims 4 for anything other than to find what is wrong with it? It seems like you greatly prefer sims 3
>>My build showcase thread<< and my newest creation Modern Celebrity Mansion, 1 Torendi Tower Penthouse, Sea Breeze Animal Clinic, and many more!
I actually prefer The Sims 2.
Was discussing on discord how The Sims 4 really does not fit my playstyle. You see in The Sims 2 I play rotationally. I build stories and I build communities. It's normal for me to have thousand hour save files, because I simply like for the towns to evolve.
The Sims 3 does not support that type of play. When I play The Sims 3 I mostly use a single family member as an avatar to look at the world around them. The fun comes from seeing your brothers and sisters live independently, on their own, creating and expanding their own families. You go to meet your brother's children, you introduce yourself to your grandchildren. The world plays itself and you're just a tiny bit of it.
The Sims 4 is structured like The Sims 2. With there being no story progression outside of aging and with the ability to freeze played families, you would think that the game is set up for rotational play, except with a bit more life from your neighbours. Your neighbours will age and die, but you can sellect your families to stay frozen in time. Well The Sims 4 suffers from massive bouts of save file decay. You can counter that for a while by switching autonomy off completely, but just the NPCs being autonomous (and soon pets too) the save file still builds up simulation lag over time. Until eventually you're 500-600-700 hours in and your mailman is frozen still. To me that makes me not want to bother? Why would I make a family and breed my dog ruffles, if his 8 times removed grand-pup will have to get deleted in a save file purge?
However, as a pet owner, I'm happy with this choice. I often find myself being controlled by my doggie as opposed to controlling it and I guess that's even more true for all the cat owners