Hello, I am back after a small hiatus from the forums, and coming back has given me time to reflect. I also have taken a break from the sims 4. When the Sims 4 originally came out, I believe I was 12, and boy did I love it. My mind almost sugarcoats glorified memories of how awesome it was- one summer I even made a legacy. Quite frankly, I believed it to be rather awesome.
After 3 1/2 years of being released and 1000+ hours of game play, I stopped playing. It was a sudden stop, and at the time I wasn't exactly sure. Upon reflection I have figured out the reasons. Number 1, I think I simply found better games to play. Towards the end of my time of playing, it simply felt like I had wasted hours- I had a feeling of dissatisfaction once I had logged off. Its hard to say why I felt like this, even to this day.
I also felt like play got repetitive- I was doing the same thing constantly. I would get a job, have children. It would be exactly the same for each save. I struggled to create story lines, and had attempted challenges, but never stuck to them. It even felt like EP's didn't add much- honestly, cats and dogs bored the heck out of me. It felt like nothing new was added. Ep's would only keep me interested for a matter of weeks, then it felt like the same old repetitive game.
EA just got greedy- during the time I was playing, EA was popping out packs quicker than you could say plumbob. I struggled to keep up with packs, and as I am only a teenager, I couldn't afford it. In the end, I got addicted to trying to get these packs- and it was unhealthy. I feel that EA is too greedy in terms of money, and I prefer to give money to smaller companies such as SCS, who create ETS2- EP's are more worth it imo.
Although I realise that my opinions are in the minority, I thank you for reading this. And if Sims 4 has also lost its charm for you- why?
I am the champion, my friend
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Comments
I understand your point about my lack of creativity- you're completely right. Looking back I didn't elaborate on it correctly. I forgot to compare it to Sims 3, where it feels like it gave me more opportunities to do the things I want, idk. I'm also sorry to hear you were sick, and I'm hoping you're feeling much better now
Edit: grammatical error.
I never really got into Sims 3 (did not like the open world), but loved Sims 2. In a way, the fact that everything is so easy in Sims 4 (being able to switch aspirations, and the very limited amount of aspirations/jobs) just makes for very similar Sims that typically end up doing the same things.. and traits don't really make a difference either.
OP, I hope it's not against forum rules to compliment your writing skills and say that I was struck by how well your post read.
To be fair, the game is no longer the first of its kind. With Sims 1, we only had other simulation programs to compare it to...like Theme Hospital and Moon Colony and some of the Tycoon games. Even then, I didn't play Sims exclusively.
Complaining that the gameplay becomes repetitive...is kind of like complaining about "grinding" in MMORPGs. Grinding, FYI, is replaying various dungeon areas to increase your character's experience and gold. With many MMORPGs, you need to "grind" to pass certain hard levels, and/or form raiding groups (which have their own annoyances, depending on fellow players temperaments). ANY game, if you play it enough, is going to become repetitive over time, though some games (cough cough mobile games cough casual games) more than others. Even classic side-scrollers have the repetitive jump and shoot thing going on.
If you are finding your gameplay repetitive, switching games for awhile is probably the best thing you can do. Or, you can try challenges, or switching your gameplay style. If you are a legacy player and bored with legacies, try rotational play. Or vice-versa. Or if you play your game vanilla but are bored of limited style choices, try custom content. Laptops for instance, are not available in the vanilla game - but they are as custom content. Functional canning stations and candlemaking stations with their related skills...are not available in the vanilla game, but they are as mods (Mod the Sims has them if you want to try them). If you are bored with the formal dresses provided in the vanilla game - custom content is your friend. And when the game is patched, Sims 4 Studio program (Google it) usually has batch fixes for updating custom content (but not script mods). If you are bored with vanilla game traits or careers, there are mods to add more of those to your game.
I feel this is more so on EA/TS4. The game is supposed to be an efficient tool, allowing us to build the Sims we want, build their home/world the way we want, and build their stories/gameplay the way we want. Truly, TS4's core game remains on the weaker side. Seasons has definitely been a worthy addition to the game. Honestly, this is the first expansion that I feel actually belongs. The others feel like fluff, with either themes that we did not need at the time, or poorly executed concepts.
For me, The Sims 4 has still not done enough to break its image as a lesser The Sims 2 and 3. You make a Sim, choose from a very limited selection of jobs, max skills that disappear upon death and make little to no impact on offspring, rinse and repeat. The game was, and continues to be, poorly designed as an actual game. Maxis used to specialize in simulation with hits like SimCity and The Sims, but they have become too focused on glitz and glamour that they've neglected the important innovations the series needs to make it worth playing. As it stands, the game can barely handle simulation, which is the basic premise of the series that every other game was somehow able to do (The Sims 3 even with its poor performance optimization).
The first major problem that I see with Sims 4 is its predictability. Because of the way the emotion system is programmed, most Sims end up behaving the exact same way in almost every circumstance. When emotions are made to override a Sim's traits, they take away the individuality of each Sim. This makes every scenario repetitive with every household, no matter how you create your Sims in CAS. In the past games, the Sims behavioural AI seemed more programmed to follow the choices of the player and the traits given to them, thus resulting in a variety of unpredictable actions and reactions, differing from the other Sims in the household. There also seemed to be a much more expansive variety of unique animations and quirks that came with each choice, so that we would be seeing completely different behaviors and distinct personalities.
Another major problem that I see is lack of Sim awareness or memory of their own actions and the events around them. Our Sims can get into brawls and make enemies of each other but they never seem to remember a wrong done to them. They have no acknowledgement of loss if it doesn't happen right in front of them and they often just go about their daily routines in a drab, repetitive loop, merely gravitating to the nearest object that has the strongest pull. Their whims are generic and object- or pack-based, and hardly ever circumstantial or specific to their own life events. Cheating spouses, death of siblings who live in other neighborhoods, enemies and rivals....these things barely summon any reaction beyond the usual moodlet that is exactly the same as the next Sim in a similar circumstance. It's as if there are no individual lives being lived, because all scenarios just circle back to the same autonomous behavior. No matter what happens, life continues happily on.
Which leads to my final major issue, the excessive happiness and complete absence of major "dark" emotions. It seems like, in the end, everything in the Sims 4 is designed to keep our Sims happy. Happy is the default emotional state, which is a humongous mistake to begin with. The static default emotion should have been "Fine" from the very beginning and allowed a Sim's happiness to be earned. But our Sims start off the game already "winning", which takes a huge amount of the challenge and realism away from the player and makes the game feel childish, like we're being walked through lala land on easy mode. Just decorating your Sims house throws a gazillion unwanted happy buffs that should be reserved for materialistic Sims. For crying out loud, even clean laundry causes too much happiness, and every single positive buff a Sim earns adds to the euphoria so that we constantly have worlds filled with grinning fools instead of diverse moods. On top of it all, (and this is one of the very worst oversights in my opinion), is the complete absence of fear. There is no existing fear emotion. No stress, no distress, not scared, afraid, etc.... fear is completely missing. The closest we get are a few animations when something bad is happening, like a burning house or poisonous insects attack, but the actual Sim never acknowledges their own fear. They merely get tense, and in a short while they're happy again.
This oversight, to me, has been the elephant in the room with many packs, most predominantly my favorites: Vampires, Jungle Adventures, and yes, even now with Seasons. Where is the terror of the Vampire who comes into your room at night and walks in the dark, waiting to enslave or prey on lesser beings? Where is the fear of going into the unknown jungle, fraught with dangers, deadly bugs, trapped temples and curses? Where are the phobias that should make each Sim unique, like being afraid of the lightning, or spiders, or occults, or the dark, or scary movies? Or how about the fear of failure or divorce or that your child will grow up wrong or of the Sim who picked a fight with them at the pub in Windenburg? Fear is so very important to the basics of human nature that it will always astound me that it was never included. At least the cats and dogs can experience it.
But this absence, along with the issues above, are the things that will always make the Sims 4 feel somewhat shallow and dull in long-term gameplay. For the casual gamer, these things may be less noticeable, but Simmers are rarely casual gamers. We plunge into our Sim worlds for weeks on end with stories in our heads and hours of CAS to make our Sims the way we want, and sometimes building for days to make the perfect lots. We notice when corners have been cut.
I will say that the game has most certainly improved, particularly in the last year and a half. I do think that the devs are working hard to find solutions but because of how deep these things go in the core programming, they will be very difficult to correct. I do still enjoy the game when I can accept it for what it is, but there are always going to be those times when I'm just not feeling it and choose to play something else instead. I never felt that way with Sims 2, so I really miss that feeling of loyalty out of genuine immersive contentment and I do hope that one day, the Sims 4 will be improved on and filled out enough to bring some of that back.
Quoted for truth. TS4 is a beautiful, beautiful game. But the simulation is still so lacking.
I agree that Seasons is a step in the right direction. Although some important, weather-related effects were left out, there was a jump start on the simulation end. Someone broke out the defibrillator, for sure.
Still, I tend to think of TS4 as an attempted plane ride from San Francisco to NY. It's a pretty direct route and relatively short. However, for the last four years, the game has been on a slow, leaky boat, last seen adrift somewhere in the Pacific. Where was it headed? Who knows. Possibly, the destination was still NY. But it was certainly taking the scenic route.
At last, the game seems to be headed in a more expedient direction. Yet, it also seems that they have further to go than when they first started. A good portion of the community is now harder to sell than when the series first started. Trust was lost while folks were waiting for the boat to turn -- or, at least, speed up.
I definitely agree with your point about lack of remembering key moments- beautifully put.
Will you be giving the game another try?
> I agree that the game does have some core issues that result in it not withstanding the test of longevity.
>
> Which leads to my final major issue, the excessive happiness and complete absence of major "dark" emotions. It seems like, in the end, everything in the Sims 4 is designed to keep our Sims happy. Happy is the default emotional state, which is a humongous mistake to begin with. The static default emotion should have been "Fine" from the very beginning and allowed a Sim's happiness to be earned. But our Sims start off the game already "winning", which takes a huge amount of the challenge and realism away from the player and makes the game feel childish, like we're being walked through lala land on easy mode. Just decorating your Sims house throws a gazillion unwanted happy buffs that should be reserved for materialistic Sims. For crying out loud, even clean laundry causes too much happiness, and every single positive buff a Sim earns adds to the euphoria so that we constantly have worlds filled with grinning fools instead of diverse moods. On top of it all, (and this is one of the very worst oversights in my opinion), is the complete absence of fear. There is no existing fear emotion. No stress, no distress, not scared, afraid, etc.... fear is completely missing. The closest we get are a few animations when something bad is happening, like a burning house or poisonous insects attack, but the actual Sim never acknowledges their own fear. They merely get tense, and in a short while they're happy again.
>
> This oversight, to me, has been the elephant in the room with many packs, most predominantly my favorites: Vampires, Jungle Adventures, and yes, even now with Seasons. Where is the terror of the Vampire who comes into your room at night and walks in the dark, waiting to enslave or prey on lesser beings? Where is the fear of going into the unknown jungle, fraught with dangers, deadly bugs, trapped temples and curses? Where are the phobias that should make each Sim unique, like being afraid of the lightning, or spiders, or occults, or the dark, or scary movies? Or how about the fear of failure or divorce or that your child will grow up wrong or of the Sim who picked a fight with them at the pub in Windenburg? Fear is so very important to the basics of human nature that it will always astound me that it was never included. At least the cats and dogs can experience it.
You know... I had not really thought about this. I'll be honest, I haven't played Sims 4 all that much. You could probably consider me sort of a newbie, at least to TS4, though I played hundreds of hours of the prior 2 games (S2 and S3) and loved them. When I first bought TS4, I started a Legacy (my favorite way to play Sims) and got maybe 2 gens in and gave up because I was unhappy with gameplay. Out loud I would have told you things like lack of toddlers caused it but deeper down there was something that bugged me but I couldn't tell you what.
Last month, I watched a Let's Play by someone about something else, but he also had a series with Cats and Dogs and the pet features plus all the things I saw him doing that could not have been done in TS4 at launch, tempted me. When I looked it up and saw toddlers were back, I said OK, I will try it. I reinstalled the game, bought a couple of packs, and started up a new legacy. That one is now, also, on Gen 2. I have been enjoying it much more now -- maybe also because I have not played any Sims game since 2014, so I have forgotten some of the what TS2 and 3 had that TS4 does not, which annoyed me initially (and some are back).
But as much as I have been enjoying it, something has still felt off. My founder was a Good, Cheerful, Loves Outdoors Sim... so her being constantly "Happy" didn't really surprise me, even when she was living on an empty grass lot with nothing but a fridge and a bed. Over time I ended up with eight Sims on the lot (the Founder, spouse, 3 kids, and one kid's spouse and their kids). And they were all happy most of the time. And I didn't really think about it too much. With 8 Sims and the "default stupid" AI behavior, I spent most of my time racing to correct them from doing dumb things like drink water, drink water, drink water instead of skill up and so on.
However, now that I read this statement, I realize that my brain had simply accepted Happy, rather than Fine, as the default. Visually, when I was scanning the 8 Sim portraits, my brain knew to click on a Sim if its portrait was not Green (unless I had been trying to do something like get it Focused or Inspired). Without consciously noticing it, I had come to accept Green = Everything is OK -- i.e., Green is Fine. Which it's NOT -- it's Happy. But since Happy is the default, I knew everything was OK with my Sims as long as they were green. And pretty much, all I had to do was take care of needs to make them Green. I didn't even have to do things like decorate the house to make them green. For example, in TS3, Loves Outdoors was my go-to for Legacy founders because without it, they were going to be upset at not having nice things. But in TS4 -- not one of my Sims has ever objected to living outside, whether they Love Outdoors or not. They just don't seem to care where they live.
Heck even things like finishing a room. If I didn't play a Legacy I would not even encounter this but with a Legacy, you have no money at first, so you can't afford things. Your first room is almost always a Bathroom because Sims will do other stuff outside but they do get embarrassed if someone sees them use a toilet. So typically in a Legacy you make a little square room as soon as you can afford walls and put a toilet in there and a door. But often I do not have the money to paint, or heck even buy a lightbulb. In TS3, your Sim would be unhappy because "it's dark" and "Unfinished room". In TS4 -- nope, they don't care. Not only that, while it's dark and an unfinished room, even my "Loves Outdoors" Sim who is now aesthetically in a basement, is still "Happy."
Again, I registered this as I was playing, but I did not think consciously about it. Now that you explained it this way, however, I see exactly what you mean. And I agree this is a major flaw. You're right about lack of negative emotions other than Tense. There is no fear. Along with things like no burglars. When I got enough money I went looking for a burglar alarm -- used to be one of my first Legacy purchases because without it you were almost guaranteed to have a burglar come in and still the only furniture you have, like your coffee table. But now I don't have to worry about it -- there are no burglars, and if there were, like ghosts, vampires, or aliens, my Sims would be perfectly happy to talk to them. Sims 3 - burglar comes in, steals your TV, and your Sims scream in fear. Sims 4 -- if there were burglars, the burglar comes in, steals your TV, and your Sims make them dinner and have a pleasant convo with them, Happy the whole time...
Ahh, thank you so much- I really appreciate your kind comment! Honestly, I'm considering giving it another try once I get bored of Sims 3, I'm not entirely sure that's possible, however it'll probably happen at some point. As I've recently gotten a new computer, I'll have to download all my CC again (over 500 files.) It's sort of putting me off as I can't play Sims 4 vanilla as it gets incredibly boring
Yes, that's another point- sims traits seem to have no effect on their personalities. Either I wish they would bring back the point system (not my favourite but better than the current system) or have more diverse traits with better interactions etc.
Yeah, the babies feel extremely unrealistic- they're just boring and have no effect to gameplay.
I would keep the game on your machine though as Sims games are a good way to calm down (even get bored with) when life gets stressful. That's why I play it. I like building more than playing these days, though Seasons has given it a new lease of life.
I agree- 3 1/2 years is an amazingly long time to play. I must admit, I am rather addicted to my computer- recently however, I have been spending more time out and about with friends, and therefore time away from my PC. Perhaps this is the reason I've reflected on my time playing Sims 4. I have to agree though, it is a wonderful way of calming down. When I was having trouble in my personal life, I would constantly be on the game, creating my 'perfect' life!
Now, for me, it was quite the opposite. TS4 started gaining charm in my eyes, as new packs were being released over time. However, a game that's only become playable after 3 years is still a failed game. End of story. Didn't need to wait until TS2 and TS3 were almost done to enjoy them. The first time I've ever truly enjoyed playing TS4 was when Parenthood came out. I try not to compare too much, because it's not like I wanted a re-boot of TS3 with better graphics, but to see my favorite franchise go back in time instead of taking us to the future as far as the technology of simulation is concerned kind of broke my gamer heart.
We used to think more content will improve the game, but then it was becoming more clear with each DLC that no amount of fun gameplay will fix the core issue of this iteration which is its design right at the core. You cannot turn a game that started out as something completely different into a simulation game overnight, which was what they tried to do. It'll always be painfully visible that TS4 was just not meant to be your usual sims title, a fun albeit complex game that celebrated player's imagination. I will always feel like Im playing some weird, co-op/sims hybrid. Especially looking at the map view of the towns. We are now in the year of 2018 and my sim can't drive a car. This is just sad.
I completely agree with this- parenthood was the only pack that ever got me fully engaged, and I think that was about the 5th (?) pack I had bought. It is sad that it feels like we went back. Like you, I wasn't expecting a re-boot of sims 3, yet at the same time, I did expect something that was a better alternative albeit. Even in TS2 we had cars, more in-depth personalities. Many people call this game 'The HD Sims 1' and i can't say I disagree with them.