Something I've noticed with this iteration of the Sims is that the work of modders and CC creators has far exceeded the work of EA/ Maxis.
While EA's content is terribly slow to release and often lackluster, the content created by the community has shown more depth, style and ingenuity than anything EA has put out for the Sims 4 to date. Mods and customer content have always been a part of the Sims, ever since the Sims 1, but at no other point in its history have I seen the content they create so completely overshadow the content released by EA.
Mods such as MC Command Center, Less Musical Chairs, Zirbu's Happy Buffs to Fine and many others have helped stabilize the game and get rid of annoying bugs that Maxis rarely fixes. Mods such as MC Woohoo, Risky Woohoo, Road to Fame, Extreme Violence, Go to School, Go to College, Playable Careers, Self-Employed, Turbo Careers, as well as mods adding zodiac signs, gender preferences, more than 3 traits and favorite foods have added countless content and depth to what is still a game that is lacking content. Other mods have added new vacation destinations such Tropical Getaway, as well as supernaturals such as fairies, witches, sorcerers, mermaids, functional robots and most recently zombies. They recently created several additional small pets to the game to make up for the lack of them in the deplorably bad "My First Pet Stuff." Even more groundbreaking, modders are experimenting with online Multiplayer, specifically this user-
https://www.youtube.com/user/iampokemonnumber1fan, and it is expected to be released soon.
EA/Maxis should really be embarrassed about this. Modders and CC creators are releasing content faster and often superior to what EA is actually releasing. They don't even acknowledge how important modders are to this game. Games such as Planet Coaster and Cities Skylines praise and exhibit the work of their Custom Content creators, showing it off on their social media, as well as making it available directly available to the user from the game itself through "Workshops." Even companies like Bethesda listen to and sometimes collaborate with modders and CC creators in order to make their games better.
And yet, EA is silent. They don't acknowledge their efforts, and they don't ask for their advice or opinions on the game. Content for the Sims 4 comes out incredibly slowly, little gameplay is added, and what is added reeks of little effort or thought. Of the packs we've received, the only notable ones have been Dine Out, Parenthood, Get Together (only because of the group system), and Vampires. Modders and CC creators are forced to make up for EA'a failures, and yet they receive no appreciation.
Seriously, EA, you need to either start pushing out more quality content, or you should embrace the modding and CC community and acknowledge their efforts. It doesn't help your image when they release content faster and often better than yours. Either release better content or embrace the modding community.
Because the path your going down now looks quite bleak...
Comments
Take Skyrim for example... the vanilla game is very highly rated. Yet most people play it with mods. Having a community of modders doesn't come across to me as a reason any company should be ashamed of their game.
The problem is that the mods are BETTER than the game. Skyrim was a good game without mods, the Sims 4 is not. Why should modders be expected to make a mediocre game better when the developers (EA) is unable to do it themselves, or at least acknowledge their efforts?
Where I do agree though is when it comes to mods that are major bugfixes. I feel like bugfixes should be top priority on EA's side and we shouldn't have to mod fixes for them into our games.
I think a lot of mods are used in Skyrim to enhance gameplay, but I feel like the base game is solid. I don't feel the same way about the Sims 4. I think the base game of the Sims 4 was lacking a lot, and even after they released content, most of it hasn't given us substantial gameplay. Which is why many people are critical of this game. A lot of customers now rely on mods and CC to make their game more entertaining while EA slacks off. But we can agree to disagree
I do also agree with you as far as bugs are concerned, EA started ignoring gamebreaking bugs in the Sims 3, and now they keep doing it now. And we have to rely on modders to fix those bugs because of their laziness. I don't understand why they don't collaborate with modders to fix them, since they clearly know what they're doing.
Edit: I prefer to play my game and to build without CC which is very doable, but sometimes I like to try things out and just seeing what is possible without downloading is great to see.
YouTube: https://goo.gl/PK7vxR | The Gallery: https://goo.gl/a5DZAK
Twitter: https://goo.gl/QzQVUK | Origin-ID: SimmerNickYT
Curious to know how is it that mods aren't better when you haven't used them? Personally I say the MODS are far superior, they always have been in Sims history, but its really the first time that they are needed to almost fully fix the game rather than just enhance it...
Then of course we have the golden reason.... it would of course raise the rating of the game to a level higher than teen... kind of a no brainer why some mods that have always been created for the sims aren't part of the general game. At least I would think so anyway. I mean duh. Really.
Seriously EA thank you for making it so easy to create a mod... now I have to say on some level the patching is a different story it does take work to keep mods up to date. But .. well thank you also for the bug fixes ect when patching so often. It causes some work and headache but in the long run it's worth it. Personally I'm so glad that this particular iteration is so mod friendly that these creations can come to light. I have big hopes for the future as more is added in.
You didn't use NRAS' mods in Sims3?
MCComand is its equivalent in TS4.
Well that's easily answered since I have my preferences - I love mods, and I love well done CC.
And I'd never boot up TS4 without MCC in much the same way I would never play TS3 without NRAS' modules.
yup I agree.
And I'll give you this... I could understand TS3 needing modding tools to fix some issues: It's a simulation in an open world. I'm just surprised TS4 would have stability issues to the extent that it needed an MCC.
In any case, I've just accepted at this point that modding is essential to a stress-free simming experience in my game.
Gonna have to agree with you about the base game lacking. It reminds me of what LGR said about how all the packs do is introduce new ways to do things we could already do, while not actually adding new gameplay mechanics themselves. This kinda weakens it by oversimplifying the game.
Even Will Wright was amazed by what content creators and modders could do way back in TS1, and would download player content (mods and cc) and try them out and play the game with them installed. lol It's no shame for Maxis, in my opinion , that modders can make some amazing stuff and mods/hacks but it does matter if they don't (or wouldn't) make the game more modder friendly to players.
Modders and Cc Creator do an excellent job everyday and they deserve all the acknowledgements and praise for not only creating but maintaining their creations updated. At the same time the cc and mods can be enjoy because EA has allow the game to be mods/cc content friendly. One goes with the other. The modders and cc creator wouldn't be able to make any mods or cc if Ea hadn't created the game and allow it to be custom content friendly.
I do feel like the gameplay features are lacking, and the majority of my mods are fixes for things that aren’t working the way I believe they should and more custom careers.
I couldn't agree with you more. I like to build and decided to build my own houses from now on. I use a lot of custom content because I want my creations to be unique, no the same things in every house, how boring. I try to keep mods that change the game to a minimum because when they come out with something new, they are like a bull in a china shop, breaking everything in sight. I'd like to have more of those but I know they will just break them.
theyre ashamed cuz we make better content
The Sims 2 however, did have some awesome stuff. The detail was better and a lot more work was put into objects on that game than this. My favourite has to be the Energiser. I took that in Blender and had a good look, awesome peice of kit.