@luxsylvan i'm glad you mentioned CAS. I do like a lot about it as far as the sliders and makeup go. I agree that we should also be able to adjust the height of our sims. A really huge issue for me though, is not having the color wheel. Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely loved the color wheel. So to design a base game which (from what I've read) prohibits you from having a color wheel just makes no sense to me. I guess the developers either didn't think about it or didn't realize how important it is (for me at least) to be able to make matching outfits for my sims. Especially, when it is a real challenge a lot of times to come up with a matching outfit for that favorite shirt or pants that you want your sim to wear, not to mention shoes and accessories. I certainly hope the color wheel is available again when TS5 comes out.
@luxsylvan i'm glad you mentioned CAS. I do like a lot about it as far as the sliders and makeup go. I agree that we should also be able to adjust the height of our sims. A really huge issue for me though, is not having the color wheel. Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely loved the color wheel. So to design a base game which (from what I've read) prohibits you from having a color wheel just makes no sense to me. I guess the developers either didn't think about it or didn't realize how important it is (for me at least) to be able to make matching outfits for my sims. Especially, when it is a real challenge a lot of times to come up with a matching outfit for that favorite shirt or pants that you want your sim to wear, not to mention shoes and accessories. I certainly hope the color wheel is available again when TS5 comes out.
Not just you. People say they don't miss it because TS4 has many clothing options, but if they had it for one day in TS4 they couldn't live without it again. TS3 has a level of customisation TS4 will never achieve, even in TS2 we could alter different aspects of an object.
@Sigzy05@luvdasims55 totally agree with you guys. I also miss the color wheel. It's something I always forget about until I'm playing and realize I can't use it. None of my woods match, ever. That's my biggest problem. And I refuse to use different furniture on principle, so all my builds look a tad dated and mismatchy 😂
Other than that I miss using it for hair, skin, and eyes, because the fine customization is so much more realistic for those things. Customization was truly an area where TS3 beat every other game, hands down. Talk about a revolutionary add on to the game that worked, and if you didn't like it, it didn't interfere with your gameplay at all... I fully expect it to be present in TS5, mostly because I don't want to believe they'd commit a faux pas so badly that we'd be missing it twice.
Can someone clarify me this...have past installments (I can't remember) lasted longer than 4 years?...forgive me if I am totally wrong..I am kinda on the fence..one side tells me "I wish they would just end the sims 4 and start on 5." and then the other "Maybe...just maybe they can get their cards right and have something awesome for TS4."
My fear with them doing open world and things like CASt again (preface: open worlds was about the top reason I sticked with TS3 for as long as I did) is that, based on my 7 years of playing and modding TS3, it became clear to me they either don't know how to execute it properly or don't care about performance. I mean, we lost such things under the guides of "performance" in TS4, yet, do we really have the performance increase that justifies it? I have a GTX 1080ti, which is a hell of a lot more than TS4 needs graphically, I have a decent i5 4690k OC at 3.9 GHz, and 16GB RAM, run the game off SSD. Yet my FPS can be as good as 120 and as low cas 25 depending on the area. Are you seriously telling me that all that set dressing and only one lot loaded is bringing down my FPS over 70%? That one single huge house is doing that when the world is closed and data is only loaded 1 lot at a time? The bugs (look at the new patch, new item that breaks saves? Really?) I've been lucky with bugs so far, getting very few that even affect my gameplay, but they are still there.
Back in 2014 I criticized the game harshly, and to this day I stand by the criticism I gave. Nowadays, I'm having a lot of fun, enjoying a lot of fleshed out features that I hate in previous iterations due to how shallow and boring they were (or in some cases, non existant aka rabbit holes that simply gave a moodlet like spas) But even then, I lack any hope that they can execute TS5 in the magnitude that it deserves. If they cannot get closed worlds right after all this time, I honestly cannot imagine how they could pull off open worlds without being a programming disaster like it was in TS3, much less pair it up with even more innovations. Sometimes it feels like I'm playing Early Access games when it comes to the Sims franchise, but in reality I'm playing a franchise where each iteration has content worth hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, and that is just plain wrong.
Can someone clarify me this...have past installments (I can't remember) lasted longer than 4 years?...forgive me if I am totally wrong..I am kinda on the fence..one side tells me "I wish they would just end the sims 4 and start on 5." and then the other "Maybe...just maybe they can get their cards right and have something awesome for TS4."
The previous iterations of the sims lasted approximately 4 years each. TS4 is at the 4 yr mark and still needs to add a lot of packs to make it a "complete" game comparable to the other iterations of the sims. It's my understanding that TS4 is going to be around 7 yrs or more in the making.
I don't want them to rush TS5 out the door. I want them to do a quality/complete job with the TS5 base game. I'm very pessimistic that EA will allow Maxis the time and money to do it though, despite the fact that the franchise has already made them millions of dollars. That being said, the franchise can't move on from TS4 to TS5 quick enough for me.
@Archieonic I agree. Makes no sense to me either that they go away from open world to playing in a sandbox and are still having performance issues. I'm no programmer, but it just doesn't make any sense at all. Makes me wonder if the TS4 game engine is somehow very limited and the problem.
@Archieonic I agree. Makes no sense to me either that they go away from open world to playing in a sandbox and are still having performance issues. I'm no programmer, but it just doesn't make any sense at all. Makes me wonder if the TS4 game engine is somehow very limited and the problem.
I have some knowledge of game engines due to having played around with some in the past as well as reading up on what goes into building it. I believe it is nothing to do with limitations on the engine due to 2 reasons:
1-In-house engines are developed from the ground up. This means developers have full access to it, no restrictions. An engine can be modified in many, many ways. If it truly is their own in-house engine, they have full control over its limitations and therefore, upgrading it.
2-Licensed engines often come with options for buying full source code access, this is specifically offered for those studios that want to change or extend its functionality.
So, it all boils down, IMO, to the developers. Maybe the engine needs some tuning, maybe the coding is too messy, whatever it is, it's fixable and they have all the tools for it. In fact, if they wanted to make TS4 open world for example, they very well can within the engine. Engines are much more malleable than it's perceived, granted it'd take quite some work. In-house engines have the added advantage of being developed by their own development team, meaning no learning curves since they created it so that excuse is also mute for them.
Can someone clarify me this...have past installments (I can't remember) lasted longer than 4 years?...forgive me if I am totally wrong..I am kinda on the fence..one side tells me "I wish they would just end the sims 4 and start on 5." and then the other "Maybe...just maybe they can get their cards right and have something awesome for TS4."
Sims 1: 2000-2004
Sims 2: 2004-2009
Sims 3: 2009-2013 (14 if you include the Store)
They don’t need to end Sims 4 to start working on Sims 5. They never stopped developing one game while developing the next.
My fear with them doing open world and things like CASt again (preface: open worlds was about the top reason I sticked with TS3 for as long as I did) is that, based on my 7 years of playing and modding TS3, it became clear to me they either don't know how to execute it properly or don't care about performance. I mean, we lost such things under the guides of "performance" in TS4, yet, do we really have the performance increase that justifies it? I have a GTX 1080ti, which is a hell of a lot more than TS4 needs graphically, I have a decent i5 4690k OC at 3.9 GHz, and 16GB RAM, run the game off SSD. Yet my FPS can be as good as 120 and as low cas 25 depending on the area. Are you seriously telling me that all that set dressing and only one lot loaded is bringing down my FPS over 70%? That one single huge house is doing that when the world is closed and data is only loaded 1 lot at a time? The bugs (look at the new patch, new item that breaks saves? Really?) I've been lucky with bugs so far, getting very few that even affect my gameplay, but they are still there.
Back in 2014 I criticized the game harshly, and to this day I stand by the criticism I gave. Nowadays, I'm having a lot of fun, enjoying a lot of fleshed out features that I hate in previous iterations due to how shallow and boring they were (or in some cases, non existant aka rabbit holes that simply gave a moodlet like spas) But even then, I lack any hope that they can execute TS5 in the magnitude that it deserves. If they cannot get closed worlds right after all this time, I honestly cannot imagine how they could pull off open worlds without being a programming disaster like it was in TS3, much less pair it up with even more innovations. Sometimes it feels like I'm playing Early Access games when it comes to the Sims franchise, but in reality I'm playing a franchise where each iteration has content worth hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, and that is just plain wrong.
CASt is implemented just fine in Sims 3 and causes no issues (other than a bit of extra time rendering, much shorter than a loading screen and on high end computers hardly noticeable). The problems you can get in CAS when recolouring is caused by the fact they implemented it in a way that every single item in every category has to load. When players on top of that save recolours or have a lot of CC, that’s just too much.
I’m kind of curious what fleshed out features you’re referring to that were shallow and boring in the past..? Retail in Sims 2 for instance was much better and in depth as I understand it, so were restaurants. Sims 3’s open careers are fun (some of them), in no way worse or more shallow than GTW’s. Shopping in Sims 2 means actually going into a shop and buy things. In Sims 3 it’s going to a rabbithole (putting aside shopping in one of the WA worlds, the consignment stores and premium Store features for a moment), in Sims 4 it’s a click and the stuff is in your inventory. In Sims 3 at least I have the experience of a sim going downtown and entering an actual building. And comparing WA to JA in all honesty isn’t even possible (and it’s not JA there which is the most fleshed out experience, not by a long shot). About to start building my second tomb these holidays for a world Rflong is busy creating atm.
Those are the examples I can come up with but I might be overlooking something (since I don’t own all packs for Sims 4).
Can someone clarify me this...have past installments (I can't remember) lasted longer than 4 years?...forgive me if I am totally wrong..I am kinda on the fence..one side tells me "I wish they would just end the sims 4 and start on 5." and then the other "Maybe...just maybe they can get their cards right and have something awesome for TS4."
Sims 1: 2000-2004
Sims 2: 2004-2009
Sims 3: 2009-2013 (14 if you include the Store)
They don’t need to end Sims 4 to start working on Sims 5. They never stopped developing one game while developing the next.
My fear with them doing open world and things like CASt again (preface: open worlds was about the top reason I sticked with TS3 for as long as I did) is that, based on my 7 years of playing and modding TS3, it became clear to me they either don't know how to execute it properly or don't care about performance. I mean, we lost such things under the guides of "performance" in TS4, yet, do we really have the performance increase that justifies it? I have a GTX 1080ti, which is a hell of a lot more than TS4 needs graphically, I have a decent i5 4690k OC at 3.9 GHz, and 16GB RAM, run the game off SSD. Yet my FPS can be as good as 120 and as low cas 25 depending on the area. Are you seriously telling me that all that set dressing and only one lot loaded is bringing down my FPS over 70%? That one single huge house is doing that when the world is closed and data is only loaded 1 lot at a time? The bugs (look at the new patch, new item that breaks saves? Really?) I've been lucky with bugs so far, getting very few that even affect my gameplay, but they are still there.
Back in 2014 I criticized the game harshly, and to this day I stand by the criticism I gave. Nowadays, I'm having a lot of fun, enjoying a lot of fleshed out features that I hate in previous iterations due to how shallow and boring they were (or in some cases, non existant aka rabbit holes that simply gave a moodlet like spas) But even then, I lack any hope that they can execute TS5 in the magnitude that it deserves. If they cannot get closed worlds right after all this time, I honestly cannot imagine how they could pull off open worlds without being a programming disaster like it was in TS3, much less pair it up with even more innovations. Sometimes it feels like I'm playing Early Access games when it comes to the Sims franchise, but in reality I'm playing a franchise where each iteration has content worth hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, and that is just plain wrong.
CASt is implemented just fine in Sims 3 and causes no issues (other than a bit of extra time rendering, much shorter than a loading screen and on high end computers hardly noticeable). The problems you can get in CAS when recolouring is caused by the fact they implemented it in a way that every single item in every category has to load. When players on top of that save recolours or have a lot of CC, that’s just too much.
I’m kind of curious what fleshed out features you’re referring to that were shallow and boring in the past..? Retail in Sims 2 for instance was much better and in depth as I understand it, so were restaurants. Sims 3’s open careers are fun (some of them), in no way worse or more shallow than GTW’s. Shopping in Sims 2 means actually going into a shop and buy things. In Sims 3 it’s going to a rabbithole (putting aside shopping in one of the WA worlds, the consignment stores and premium Store features for a moment), in Sims 4 it’s a click and the stuff is in your inventory. In Sims 3 at least I have the experience of a sim going downtown and entering an actual building. And comparing WA to JA in all honesty isn’t even possible (and it’s not JA there which is the most fleshed out experience, not by a long shot). About to start building my second tomb these holidays for a world Rflong is busy creating atm.
Those are the examples I can come up with but I might be overlooking something (since I don’t own all packs for Sims 4).
Let' see (The following is just my opinion):
Celebrity system was garb in the past, only time I enjoy it was in The Sims Superstar. The new system is much more specific and fleshed out. Supernaturals in TS3 were half and half, I loved witches, genies but I found werewolves so boring, fairies very shallow, vampires meh. TS3 attempt at OFB was the store Savvy Seller, which was IMO the biggest pile of rotten content that frustrated me so much, it was just sad. GTW retail IMO captures well the essence of OFB (yet OFB was one single whole EP dedicated to running a business, whereas Savvy Seller was a store item and GTW dedicated to active careers as well as retail) Same with the indulgent bakery. Showtime was again IMO horrible, the careers had potential yet the gameplay was dull and immersiom breaking. There was no dining experience in TS3, the bistro store thing was again awful. TS2 nailed this beautifully though. Rabbit holes, while made perfect sense for workplaces, made no sense for grocery shops, spa, restaurants, cinema, etc. That was just 0 gameplay, so either way I never cared for using those and having to imagine what happened inside. WA was great, fantastic (altho I recall a lot of folks back in the day disliking it due to the brand new adventuring oriented gameplay it brought), I can't compare WA to JA since both are not EPs, but I can clearly see WA being a king of its own. The tombs got really boring for me though, despite the layout it was the same actions over and over. Get Together's clubs are easily one of my favorite additions to the franchise, it's the type of sandbox self building experience I enjoy in this game giving me all sorts of possibilities, same with custom holidays. It allows me to flesh out the game in many ways and I personally disliked a lot how group outings were handled previously.
I could go on and on but my point is, this is just my opinion and my opinion will not click with everyone. I played TS3 for 6 years and had plenty of enjoyable moments as well if only due to mods, specifically NRaas. Otherwise I would have never stuck around it. TS3 could have worked perfectly had they bothered to care about it, and the same trend is being shown in TS4 which is closed worlds, leaving me with little hope for anything decent in TS5.
Can someone clarify me this...have past installments (I can't remember) lasted longer than 4 years?...forgive me if I am totally wrong..I am kinda on the fence..one side tells me "I wish they would just end the sims 4 and start on 5." and then the other "Maybe...just maybe they can get their cards right and have something awesome for TS4."
Sims 1: 2000-2004
Sims 2: 2004-2009
Sims 3: 2009-2013 (14 if you include the Store)
They don’t need to end Sims 4 to start working on Sims 5. They never stopped developing one game while developing the next.
[
...that...is kinda depressing knowing this game is way past the age of the other installments and doesn't even have half of what the others did...that kinda says something surely I am not the only one thinking that?
Can someone clarify me this...have past installments (I can't remember) lasted longer than 4 years?...forgive me if I am totally wrong..I am kinda on the fence..one side tells me "I wish they would just end the sims 4 and start on 5." and then the other "Maybe...just maybe they can get their cards right and have something awesome for TS4."
Sims 1: 2000-2004
Sims 2: 2004-2009
Sims 3: 2009-2013 (14 if you include the Store)
They don’t need to end Sims 4 to start working on Sims 5. They never stopped developing one game while developing the next.
My fear with them doing open world and things like CASt again (preface: open worlds was about the top reason I sticked with TS3 for as long as I did) is that, based on my 7 years of playing and modding TS3, it became clear to me they either don't know how to execute it properly or don't care about performance. I mean, we lost such things under the guides of "performance" in TS4, yet, do we really have the performance increase that justifies it? I have a GTX 1080ti, which is a hell of a lot more than TS4 needs graphically, I have a decent i5 4690k OC at 3.9 GHz, and 16GB RAM, run the game off SSD. Yet my FPS can be as good as 120 and as low cas 25 depending on the area. Are you seriously telling me that all that set dressing and only one lot loaded is bringing down my FPS over 70%? That one single huge house is doing that when the world is closed and data is only loaded 1 lot at a time? The bugs (look at the new patch, new item that breaks saves? Really?) I've been lucky with bugs so far, getting very few that even affect my gameplay, but they are still there.
Back in 2014 I criticized the game harshly, and to this day I stand by the criticism I gave. Nowadays, I'm having a lot of fun, enjoying a lot of fleshed out features that I hate in previous iterations due to how shallow and boring they were (or in some cases, non existant aka rabbit holes that simply gave a moodlet like spas) But even then, I lack any hope that they can execute TS5 in the magnitude that it deserves. If they cannot get closed worlds right after all this time, I honestly cannot imagine how they could pull off open worlds without being a programming disaster like it was in TS3, much less pair it up with even more innovations. Sometimes it feels like I'm playing Early Access games when it comes to the Sims franchise, but in reality I'm playing a franchise where each iteration has content worth hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, and that is just plain wrong.
CASt is implemented just fine in Sims 3 and causes no issues (other than a bit of extra time rendering, much shorter than a loading screen and on high end computers hardly noticeable). The problems you can get in CAS when recolouring is caused by the fact they implemented it in a way that every single item in every category has to load. When players on top of that save recolours or have a lot of CC, that’s just too much.
I’m kind of curious what fleshed out features you’re referring to that were shallow and boring in the past..? Retail in Sims 2 for instance was much better and in depth as I understand it, so were restaurants. Sims 3’s open careers are fun (some of them), in no way worse or more shallow than GTW’s. Shopping in Sims 2 means actually going into a shop and buy things. In Sims 3 it’s going to a rabbithole (putting aside shopping in one of the WA worlds, the consignment stores and premium Store features for a moment), in Sims 4 it’s a click and the stuff is in your inventory. In Sims 3 at least I have the experience of a sim going downtown and entering an actual building. And comparing WA to JA in all honesty isn’t even possible (and it’s not JA there which is the most fleshed out experience, not by a long shot). About to start building my second tomb these holidays for a world Rflong is busy creating atm.
Those are the examples I can come up with but I might be overlooking something (since I don’t own all packs for Sims 4).
Let' see (The following is just my opinion):
Celebrity system was garb in the past, only time I enjoy it was in The Sims Superstar. The new system is much more specific and fleshed out. Supernaturals in TS3 were half and half, I loved witches, genies but I found werewolves so boring, fairies very shallow, vampires meh. TS3 attempt at OFB was the store Savvy Seller, which was IMO the biggest pile of rotten content that frustrated me so much, it was just sad. GTW retail IMO captures well the essence of OFB (yet OFB was one single whole EP dedicated to running a business, whereas Savvy Seller was a store item and GTW dedicated to active careers as well as retail) Same with the indulgent bakery. Showtime was again IMO horrible, the careers had potential yet the gameplay was dull and immersiom breaking. There was no dining experience in TS3, the bistro store thing was again awful. TS2 nailed this beautifully though. Rabbit holes, while made perfect sense for workplaces, made no sense for grocery shops, spa, restaurants, cinema, etc. That was just 0 gameplay, so either way I never cared for using those and having to imagine what happened inside. WA was great, fantastic (altho I recall a lot of folks back in the day disliking it due to the brand new adventuring oriented gameplay it brought), I can't compare WA to JA since both are not EPs, but I can clearly see WA being a king of its own. The tombs got really boring for me though, despite the layout it was the same actions over and over. Get Together's clubs are easily one of my favorite additions to the franchise, it's the type of sandbox self building experience I enjoy in this game giving me all sorts of possibilities, same with custom holidays. It allows me to flesh out the game in many ways and I personally disliked a lot how group outings were handled previously.
I could go on and on but my point is, this is just my opinion and my opinion will not click with everyone. I played TS3 for 6 years and had plenty of enjoyable moments as well if only due to mods, specifically NRaas. Otherwise I would have never stuck around it. TS3 could have worked perfectly had they bothered to care about it, and the same trend is being shown in TS4 which is closed worlds, leaving me with little hope for anything decent in TS5.
Of course it’s opinion, not questioning that, just curious so thanks for elaborating. I was wondering because of the phrasing enjoying a lot of fleshed out features that I hate in previous iterations due to how shallow and boring they were. That came across as if all features in Sims 4 ‘beat’ comparable features in the previous iterations. The celebrity system in Sims 3 indeed is totally meh/annoying even (I disabled it myself so yeah, I can certainly see how that will be more fleshed out this time around).
I do disagree Sims 3’s savvy seller was an attempt for OFB. OFB was an EP, the savvy seller was a Store thing. If you can’t compare WA and JA because they’re not both EP’s, you most certainly can’t compare GTW retail and some Store feature Sims 4’s retail of course should be compared to OFB, which one is more fleshed out? Was OFB boring? I haven’t played it myself but considering its popularity I’d be surprised if it were.
I can compare JA to WA and though indeed that’s comparing a GP to an EP, the GP is not by a long shot half of what WA was. There’s a lot more to WA than just tombs to begin with (martial arts, nectar making, three countries to play in), but as for the tombs: there are at least 25 of them (and you can build them yourself) and they contain actual puzzles. Not visible traps you just need to click on and choose. You can enter a room that seems completely empty and with no way out and once you’re done with that room it appears to be stuffed with traps and hidden doors. Maybe it’s not your cup of tea, but I assure you that when it is, it’s not boring and it is fleshed out. Also because it’s part of an adventure system (in some cases even covering several countries) and your sim builds up tomb raiding skills. For me JA actually became a symbol of how Sims 4 handles things, because the disappointment was real for that one. I don’t mind it’s smaller, I mind the simplicity, the one dimensional and actually boring approach. The fact traps aren’t traps. They’re just blockades you have to disarm by using an elimination system (the same one over and over and over again). Your sim can’t even try to jump through them and be lucky (like in WA when they’re experienced). And there is no way a trap surprises you (I played every tomb in WA about 3, maybe 4 times by now and that still happens; it even happened when I played my self created tomb recently, had forgotten I had placed a fire trap in front of a treasure chest).
The Get Together club system is an interesting one and I think that most definitely will be personal. If I invite sims over in Sims 3 (for a party or as a group) I have no idea what they are going to do or what is going to happen. That’s a total surprise. It will be based on their personalities, their relationships (are they going to chat, flirt or fight) and coincidence. I organized a party once for a video and I had to redo it a couple of times because the videos had got corrupted for some reason. Every time I restarted the game (and the party) entirely different things happened. I loved that. When I organize a club in Sims 4 I know exactly what’s going to happen. They will all cook, or they will all make their homework, or they will all pretend they are knights, or they will all clean up the park. For me that’s not more fleshed out, I consider sims who act according to their traits and what they see in front of them much more fleshed out. But again, I guess that indeed will be personal.
Can someone clarify me this...have past installments (I can't remember) lasted longer than 4 years?...forgive me if I am totally wrong..I am kinda on the fence..one side tells me "I wish they would just end the sims 4 and start on 5." and then the other "Maybe...just maybe they can get their cards right and have something awesome for TS4."
Sims 1: 2000-2004
Sims 2: 2004-2009
Sims 3: 2009-2013 (14 if you include the Store)
They don’t need to end Sims 4 to start working on Sims 5. They never stopped developing one game while developing the next.
My fear with them doing open world and things like CASt again (preface: open worlds was about the top reason I sticked with TS3 for as long as I did) is that, based on my 7 years of playing and modding TS3, it became clear to me they either don't know how to execute it properly or don't care about performance. I mean, we lost such things under the guides of "performance" in TS4, yet, do we really have the performance increase that justifies it? I have a GTX 1080ti, which is a hell of a lot more than TS4 needs graphically, I have a decent i5 4690k OC at 3.9 GHz, and 16GB RAM, run the game off SSD. Yet my FPS can be as good as 120 and as low cas 25 depending on the area. Are you seriously telling me that all that set dressing and only one lot loaded is bringing down my FPS over 70%? That one single huge house is doing that when the world is closed and data is only loaded 1 lot at a time? The bugs (look at the new patch, new item that breaks saves? Really?) I've been lucky with bugs so far, getting very few that even affect my gameplay, but they are still there.
Back in 2014 I criticized the game harshly, and to this day I stand by the criticism I gave. Nowadays, I'm having a lot of fun, enjoying a lot of fleshed out features that I hate in previous iterations due to how shallow and boring they were (or in some cases, non existant aka rabbit holes that simply gave a moodlet like spas) But even then, I lack any hope that they can execute TS5 in the magnitude that it deserves. If they cannot get closed worlds right after all this time, I honestly cannot imagine how they could pull off open worlds without being a programming disaster like it was in TS3, much less pair it up with even more innovations. Sometimes it feels like I'm playing Early Access games when it comes to the Sims franchise, but in reality I'm playing a franchise where each iteration has content worth hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, and that is just plain wrong.
CASt is implemented just fine in Sims 3 and causes no issues (other than a bit of extra time rendering, much shorter than a loading screen and on high end computers hardly noticeable). The problems you can get in CAS when recolouring is caused by the fact they implemented it in a way that every single item in every category has to load. When players on top of that save recolours or have a lot of CC, that’s just too much.
I’m kind of curious what fleshed out features you’re referring to that were shallow and boring in the past..? Retail in Sims 2 for instance was much better and in depth as I understand it, so were restaurants. Sims 3’s open careers are fun (some of them), in no way worse or more shallow than GTW’s. Shopping in Sims 2 means actually going into a shop and buy things. In Sims 3 it’s going to a rabbithole (putting aside shopping in one of the WA worlds, the consignment stores and premium Store features for a moment), in Sims 4 it’s a click and the stuff is in your inventory. In Sims 3 at least I have the experience of a sim going downtown and entering an actual building. And comparing WA to JA in all honesty isn’t even possible (and it’s not JA there which is the most fleshed out experience, not by a long shot). About to start building my second tomb these holidays for a world Rflong is busy creating atm.
Those are the examples I can come up with but I might be overlooking something (since I don’t own all packs for Sims 4).
Let' see (The following is just my opinion):
Celebrity system was garb in the past, only time I enjoy it was in The Sims Superstar. The new system is much more specific and fleshed out. Supernaturals in TS3 were half and half, I loved witches, genies but I found werewolves so boring, fairies very shallow, vampires meh. TS3 attempt at OFB was the store Savvy Seller, which was IMO the biggest pile of rotten content that frustrated me so much, it was just sad. GTW retail IMO captures well the essence of OFB (yet OFB was one single whole EP dedicated to running a business, whereas Savvy Seller was a store item and GTW dedicated to active careers as well as retail) Same with the indulgent bakery. Showtime was again IMO horrible, the careers had potential yet the gameplay was dull and immersiom breaking. There was no dining experience in TS3, the bistro store thing was again awful. TS2 nailed this beautifully though. Rabbit holes, while made perfect sense for workplaces, made no sense for grocery shops, spa, restaurants, cinema, etc. That was just 0 gameplay, so either way I never cared for using those and having to imagine what happened inside. WA was great, fantastic (altho I recall a lot of folks back in the day disliking it due to the brand new adventuring oriented gameplay it brought), I can't compare WA to JA since both are not EPs, but I can clearly see WA being a king of its own. The tombs got really boring for me though, despite the layout it was the same actions over and over. Get Together's clubs are easily one of my favorite additions to the franchise, it's the type of sandbox self building experience I enjoy in this game giving me all sorts of possibilities, same with custom holidays. It allows me to flesh out the game in many ways and I personally disliked a lot how group outings were handled previously.
I could go on and on but my point is, this is just my opinion and my opinion will not click with everyone. I played TS3 for 6 years and had plenty of enjoyable moments as well if only due to mods, specifically NRaas. Otherwise I would have never stuck around it. TS3 could have worked perfectly had they bothered to care about it, and the same trend is being shown in TS4 which is closed worlds, leaving me with little hope for anything decent in TS5.
Of course it’s opinion, not questioning that, just curious so thanks for elaborating. I was wondering because of the phrasing enjoying a lot of fleshed out features that I hate in previous iterations due to how shallow and boring they were. That came across as if all features in Sims 4 ‘beat’ comparable features in the previous iterations. The celebrity system in Sims 3 indeed is totally meh/annoying even (I disabled it myself so yeah, I can certainly see how that will be more fleshed out this time around).
I do disagree Sims 3’s savvy seller was an attempt for OFB. OFB was an EP, the savvy seller was a Store thing. If you can’t compare WA and JA because they’re not both EP’s, you most certainly can’t compare GTW retail and some Store feature Sims 4’s retail of course should be compared to OFB, which one is more fleshed out? Was OFB boring? I haven’t played it myself but considering its popularity I’d be surprised if it were.
I can compare JA to WA and though indeed that’s comparing a GP to an EP, the GP is not by a long shot half of what WA was. There’s a lot more to WA than just tombs to begin with (martial arts, nectar making, three countries to play in), but as for the tombs: there are at least 25 of them (and you can build them yourself) and they contain actual puzzles. Not visible traps you just need to click on and choose. You can enter a room that seems completely empty and with no way out and once you’re done with that room it appears to be stuffed with traps and hidden doors. Maybe it’s not your cup of tea, but I assure you that when it is, it’s not boring and it is fleshed out. Also because it’s part of an adventure system (in some cases even covering several countries) and your sim builds up tomb raiding skills. For me JA actually became a symbol of how Sims 4 handles things, because the disappointment was real for that one. I don’t mind it’s smaller, I mind the simplicity, the one dimensional and actually boring approach. The fact traps aren’t traps. They’re just blockades you have to disarm by using an elimination system (the same one over and over and over again). Your sim can’t even try to jump through them and be lucky (like in WA when they’re experienced). And there is no way a trap surprises you (I played every tomb in WA about 3, maybe 4 times by now and that still happens; it even happened when I played my self created tomb recently, had forgotten I had placed a fire trap in front of a treasure chest).
The Get Together club system is an interesting one and I think that most definitely will be personal. If I invite sims over in Sims 3 (for a party or as a group) I have no idea what they are going to do or what is going to happen. That’s a total surprise. It will be based on their personalities, their relationships (are they going to chat, flirt or fight) and coincidence. I organized a party once for a video and I had to redo it a couple of times because the videos had got corrupted for some reason. Every time I restarted the game (and the party) entirely different things happened. I loved that. When I organize a club in Sims 4 I know exactly what’s going to happen. They will all cook, or they will all make their homework, or they will all pretend they are knights, or they will all clean up the park. For me that’s not more fleshed out, I consider sims who act according to their traits and what they see in front of them much more fleshed out. But again, I guess that indeed will be personal.
(all sims in both videos act autonomously; I sat back and did nothing)
That's exactly what I like about clubs, the manipulation. There are plenty of situations where sims act autonomously. You can invite a group out and they'll do anything in TS4 too like parties or to the park or just to come visit you. As opposed to that video I find sims doing just what you would expect at the specific lot, and behave depending on their emotion (however I believe emotions is good on paper but flawed on how they were made. I mean I get that a sim can feel energized at a club with all the pumping and dancing and drinking, but that shouldn't be an urge to drop down and do push ups. I like that they do it because I can usually tell how they feel, but the emotional system IMO has a lot of work to be done) I'm talking about something on top of that, the club system. Being able to create proper movie watching clubs, book clubs, cleaning groups, gym clubs, joining one and taking over it, modifying a myriad of things. It is easily abused and one of my favorite all time additions to the game. Making a club of lunatics is hella fun. This is something else from groups and autonomous gatherings of all sorts, as clubs behave a different way. Also one thing to note from your video: objects. In TS4 video you chose a nightclub that had a bar and the dance floor, that's it. If that's the Windenburg club then the basement is locked per default to that music club vanilla. In TS3 there were keg stands and a pool table, which add in to the autonomy pool of actions a sim will default to take. It's a flavor thing really, I find more believable to see my sims all huddle up dancing and talking than standing there just queuing social interactions at a nightclub, although I usually see some sims at the bar, maybe my self-built nightclubs where I put the bar close to the dance floor as well as other interact-able objects influence it. And I was never able to get that many sims in my lots in TS3 without the use of mods, either by letting NRaas do their magic, forcing them with MasterController to come to the lot, or having smaller worlds with less lots. (I'm a sucker for crowds, and using a more sims per lot mod I've gotten like 50 sims in one nightclub and well, it felt very authentic)
Here is the thing about Savvy Seller, many sets in TS3 store costed more than a GP and some close to an EP. The price tag for what I got was ridiculous and makes any SP in TS4 very much passable in comparison. I wasn't exactly comparing them, perhaps my expression was wrong. I believe the Savvy Seller was an attempt to bring back some of OFB, and for the price and what it brought IMO it was a disaster. Same way I cannot compare a GP to an EP but I can very much say, for example, that JA tried to bring some functionality from WA but failed at it. I'm trying to not compare them but rather judge what they tried to do and how it delivered. Of course, I consider WA a superb pack despite not particularly being a fan of tombs. I enjoy the environmental differences, the particular world related activities, and in that regard JA delivered for me with similar unique dances, the skill, the food, etc. unique to that place.
OFB was superb, at the time it was revolutionary how we were able to run businesses or work actively for that matter even if it was just a business. I haven't played TS2 in 5 years, so I'm trying to make good memory here. OFB IMO gave a more retail-like experience, like all businesses they get to the point where they become stale but it had little charming things like hiring someone to work on making and restocking hand made flowers or robots. The proper cash register as well. TS4 GTW businesses gave me the good ol memories but I miss little things like being able to have more variety for my employees duties and cash registers, although I suppose given the real world trend its not wrong to see more stores using a tablet to dispatch customers. All in all, I'd say overall OFB was more flushed out, and as an Expansion Pack the amount of content it added was magnificent. In fact I consider most of TS2 EPs to be all around superb, and that's not just because there was little to compare it to (TS1)
I love GPs like Dine Out and Spa Day. There's one thing I hated about Dine Out that TS2 had and that is being able to work as waiters or chefs instead of just the owner. Spa Day legit put me in a dozed off mood paired with its music and beautiful sound effects.
I'm sorry if it came across like that, because TS4 most certainly does not beat every feature from previous iterations and in fact has its own many shortcomings. And once again I will state this is all my opinion (not specifically directed at you but because sometimes someone will think that what I am stating, I'm claiming to be right and the rest are wrong and that is never the case.) You can think TS2 is the best sims game ever, or TS3, or TS4, and no one can change that mainly because we have many different playstyles and as you said it all comes down to how you prefer to play the game, that will determine if a feature is good for you or not. I loved First Person Camera and always wanted it because of my playstyle yet I know many who consider it pointless and a waste of time. Oh well.
PS: I'm parked at a drive thru eating a fat burrito in my car heading home so excuse any spelling lol
EDIT: There, got home, revised the post.
EDIT2: I forgot to mention, I've recently installed MCCC Tuner/Control and SCAMv5 to tweak autonomy, much like NRaas Returner that I used in TS3. I've always found vanilla autonomy to be a PITA in every iteration so whenever I get the chance, I mod it or download a mod for it. It works wonders, when I had it setup in TS3 Sims acted much smarter, with a lot more variety and logical actions. I'm happy the same can be done in TS4.
Can someone clarify me this...have past installments (I can't remember) lasted longer than 4 years?...forgive me if I am totally wrong..I am kinda on the fence..one side tells me "I wish they would just end the sims 4 and start on 5." and then the other "Maybe...just maybe they can get their cards right and have something awesome for TS4."
Sims 1: 2000-2004
Sims 2: 2004-2009
Sims 3: 2009-2013 (14 if you include the Store)
They don’t need to end Sims 4 to start working on Sims 5. They never stopped developing one game while developing the next.
[
...that...is kinda depressing knowing this game is way past the age of the other installments and doesn't even have half of what the others did...that kinda says something surely I am not the only one thinking that?
Doesn't it though.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
Happy Holidays Everyone,
As far as debating I am only going to say this we have four long beautiful years to celebrate life don't hold on to the put the past away move forward to what the future holds this year some aren't so lucky to have four years....
~PrincessRey~
Everyone was born different with different viewpoints, different lives and different stories but on thing remains all of us are connected by the speed of Light.....
Honestly? I don't care about Sims 5. I won't be buying it, or all it's DLC. Sims 4 is the last go round of this franchise for me.
Sims 2 will always be the pinnacle I hold this series to. Sims 3 failed at it miserably. Sims 4 strives, but is missing the mark.
I hope they keep trying though. Sims 4 needs a lot more content. It needs more depth. I hope they are working on the Sims themselves as hard as they work on the worlds to look beautiful and " busy".
I would have enjoyed TS4 so much more if traits mattered more than those silly buffs. And I would have enjoyed it more if they had spoken to a professional (remember Rachel said they didn't bother) to decide what things or behaviours a trait would emit. It might have made more sense if they had. Such as an evil Sim wouldn't want to hug an enemy just because they had happy decor buffs. I would like to see a deeper game, however, I think that kind of depth ended many years ago. And TS4's crossover emotions which any Sim could have, didn't make sense. That is to say, everyone could be happy, sad, mad, flirty, etc. It sort of doesn't fit every trait does it? No, it doesn't. Loners would never want to be around a bunch of Sims but there they go.
I think we know it's past four years and we probably aren't going to see an overhaul of these Sims. And if I want it more like TS2 or TS3 I would have to add that big mod MC comand to make it play and work like TS2. It's not something I wanted to do, I wanted to play the vanilla game but it became so buggy and so senseless I had to give up on it.
Happy Holidays Cinebar,
Whether or not we agree on the Sims I always consider you a " Sim Buddy" hope you find some days of joy to celebrate the season.
~PrincessRey~
One thing to finish the post I've been listening to this Song from Pink going through challenges I never seen it this way this song is healing to me and belongs to a Broadway Show.
A Million Dreams / Lyrics from the greatest showman: Reimagined
I close my eyes and I can see
A world that's waiting up for me that I call my own
Through the dark, through the door
Through where no one's been before
But it feels like home
They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say I've lost my mind
I don't care, I don't care, if they call me crazy
We can live in a world that we design
'Cause every night, I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
Oh, a million dreams for the world we're gonna make
There's a house we can build
Every room inside is filled with things from far away
Special things I compile
Each one there to make you smile on a rainy day
They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say we've lost our minds
See, I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy
Run away to a world that we design
'Cause every night, I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
Oh, a million dreams for the world we're gonna make
However big, however small
Let me be part of it all
Share your dreams with me
We may be right, we may be wrong
But I wanna bring you along to the world I see
To the world we close our eyes to see
We close our eyes to see
Every night, I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
A million dreams for the world we're gonna make
This is us simmers there is no right or wrong but as simmers new and old over a million users have this dream of the sim world we are going to make after a life challenge this ain't colorless its a world where we are all in that we want to make and the Heads have dreams too we all do whom is to say we are right or wrong we just want to go into our world of dreams and maybe this is why Sims 4 is what it is there is still a billion dreams from everyone waiting to be created.....
~PrincessRey~
Let the light shine through for both me and you.......
[...]It's been so long that I'd loathe to see another rehash of everything we have. I know it's a lucrative business model but come on, I think it's due time to see some changes. Not another bare base game, then yelling for seasons, then pets, then university, then restaurants, etc. It leaves so little room to improve or create new things. If EA had competition in this genre, perhaps things would be different. And I'm not at all saying I'm dissatisfied with TS4, I believe it has its flaws like every other iteration (some bother me more than before like worlds) but I'm just afraid of seeing TS5 being the same cycle we've seen for so many years.
This, exactly! And I am not saying they should drop seasons, pets, etc. At this point, after almost two decades of development, I'd expect these concepts to be already elaborated and ready to be implemeted in a base game. New expansions should bring new gameplay, new ideas.
[...]It's been so long that I'd loathe to see another rehash of everything we have. I know it's a lucrative business model but come on, I think it's due time to see some changes. Not another bare base game, then yelling for seasons, then pets, then university, then restaurants, etc. It leaves so little room to improve or create new things. If EA had competition in this genre, perhaps things would be different. And I'm not at all saying I'm dissatisfied with TS4, I believe it has its flaws like every other iteration (some bother me more than before like worlds) but I'm just afraid of seeing TS5 being the same cycle we've seen for so many years.
This, exactly! And I am not saying they should drop seasons, pets, etc. At this point, after almost two decades of development, I'd expect these concepts to be already elaborated and ready to be implemeted in a base game. New expansions should bring new gameplay, new ideas.
Wouldn't it be lovely if the next game came with Seasons, Pets, and Toddlers, Teens etc., and Restaurants etc. in the base, then they could work on things we've never seen before. For the price of $80 (the price of TS4 at release) it should have.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
Comments
Not just you. People say they don't miss it because TS4 has many clothing options, but if they had it for one day in TS4 they couldn't live without it again. TS3 has a level of customisation TS4 will never achieve, even in TS2 we could alter different aspects of an object.
Other than that I miss using it for hair, skin, and eyes, because the fine customization is so much more realistic for those things. Customization was truly an area where TS3 beat every other game, hands down. Talk about a revolutionary add on to the game that worked, and if you didn't like it, it didn't interfere with your gameplay at all... I fully expect it to be present in TS5, mostly because I don't want to believe they'd commit a faux pas so badly that we'd be missing it twice.
Back in 2014 I criticized the game harshly, and to this day I stand by the criticism I gave. Nowadays, I'm having a lot of fun, enjoying a lot of fleshed out features that I hate in previous iterations due to how shallow and boring they were (or in some cases, non existant aka rabbit holes that simply gave a moodlet like spas) But even then, I lack any hope that they can execute TS5 in the magnitude that it deserves. If they cannot get closed worlds right after all this time, I honestly cannot imagine how they could pull off open worlds without being a programming disaster like it was in TS3, much less pair it up with even more innovations. Sometimes it feels like I'm playing Early Access games when it comes to the Sims franchise, but in reality I'm playing a franchise where each iteration has content worth hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, and that is just plain wrong.
The previous iterations of the sims lasted approximately 4 years each. TS4 is at the 4 yr mark and still needs to add a lot of packs to make it a "complete" game comparable to the other iterations of the sims. It's my understanding that TS4 is going to be around 7 yrs or more in the making.
I don't want them to rush TS5 out the door. I want them to do a quality/complete job with the TS5 base game. I'm very pessimistic that EA will allow Maxis the time and money to do it though, despite the fact that the franchise has already made them millions of dollars. That being said, the franchise can't move on from TS4 to TS5 quick enough for me.
I have some knowledge of game engines due to having played around with some in the past as well as reading up on what goes into building it. I believe it is nothing to do with limitations on the engine due to 2 reasons:
1-In-house engines are developed from the ground up. This means developers have full access to it, no restrictions. An engine can be modified in many, many ways. If it truly is their own in-house engine, they have full control over its limitations and therefore, upgrading it.
2-Licensed engines often come with options for buying full source code access, this is specifically offered for those studios that want to change or extend its functionality.
So, it all boils down, IMO, to the developers. Maybe the engine needs some tuning, maybe the coding is too messy, whatever it is, it's fixable and they have all the tools for it. In fact, if they wanted to make TS4 open world for example, they very well can within the engine. Engines are much more malleable than it's perceived, granted it'd take quite some work. In-house engines have the added advantage of being developed by their own development team, meaning no learning curves since they created it so that excuse is also mute for them.
Sims 2: 2004-2009
Sims 3: 2009-2013 (14 if you include the Store)
They don’t need to end Sims 4 to start working on Sims 5. They never stopped developing one game while developing the next.
CASt is implemented just fine in Sims 3 and causes no issues (other than a bit of extra time rendering, much shorter than a loading screen and on high end computers hardly noticeable). The problems you can get in CAS when recolouring is caused by the fact they implemented it in a way that every single item in every category has to load. When players on top of that save recolours or have a lot of CC, that’s just too much.
I’m kind of curious what fleshed out features you’re referring to that were shallow and boring in the past..? Retail in Sims 2 for instance was much better and in depth as I understand it, so were restaurants. Sims 3’s open careers are fun (some of them), in no way worse or more shallow than GTW’s. Shopping in Sims 2 means actually going into a shop and buy things. In Sims 3 it’s going to a rabbithole (putting aside shopping in one of the WA worlds, the consignment stores and premium Store features for a moment), in Sims 4 it’s a click and the stuff is in your inventory. In Sims 3 at least I have the experience of a sim going downtown and entering an actual building. And comparing WA to JA in all honesty isn’t even possible (and it’s not JA there which is the most fleshed out experience, not by a long shot). About to start building my second tomb these holidays for a world Rflong is busy creating atm.
Those are the examples I can come up with but I might be overlooking something (since I don’t own all packs for Sims 4).
Let' see (The following is just my opinion):
Celebrity system was garb in the past, only time I enjoy it was in The Sims Superstar. The new system is much more specific and fleshed out. Supernaturals in TS3 were half and half, I loved witches, genies but I found werewolves so boring, fairies very shallow, vampires meh. TS3 attempt at OFB was the store Savvy Seller, which was IMO the biggest pile of rotten content that frustrated me so much, it was just sad. GTW retail IMO captures well the essence of OFB (yet OFB was one single whole EP dedicated to running a business, whereas Savvy Seller was a store item and GTW dedicated to active careers as well as retail) Same with the indulgent bakery. Showtime was again IMO horrible, the careers had potential yet the gameplay was dull and immersiom breaking. There was no dining experience in TS3, the bistro store thing was again awful. TS2 nailed this beautifully though. Rabbit holes, while made perfect sense for workplaces, made no sense for grocery shops, spa, restaurants, cinema, etc. That was just 0 gameplay, so either way I never cared for using those and having to imagine what happened inside. WA was great, fantastic (altho I recall a lot of folks back in the day disliking it due to the brand new adventuring oriented gameplay it brought), I can't compare WA to JA since both are not EPs, but I can clearly see WA being a king of its own. The tombs got really boring for me though, despite the layout it was the same actions over and over. Get Together's clubs are easily one of my favorite additions to the franchise, it's the type of sandbox self building experience I enjoy in this game giving me all sorts of possibilities, same with custom holidays. It allows me to flesh out the game in many ways and I personally disliked a lot how group outings were handled previously.
I could go on and on but my point is, this is just my opinion and my opinion will not click with everyone. I played TS3 for 6 years and had plenty of enjoyable moments as well if only due to mods, specifically NRaas. Otherwise I would have never stuck around it. TS3 could have worked perfectly had they bothered to care about it, and the same trend is being shown in TS4 which is closed worlds, leaving me with little hope for anything decent in TS5.
...that...is kinda depressing knowing this game is way past the age of the other installments and doesn't even have half of what the others did...that kinda says something
I do disagree Sims 3’s savvy seller was an attempt for OFB. OFB was an EP, the savvy seller was a Store thing. If you can’t compare WA and JA because they’re not both EP’s, you most certainly can’t compare GTW retail and some Store feature
I can compare JA to WA and though indeed that’s comparing a GP to an EP, the GP is not by a long shot half of what WA was. There’s a lot more to WA than just tombs to begin with (martial arts, nectar making, three countries to play in), but as for the tombs: there are at least 25 of them (and you can build them yourself) and they contain actual puzzles. Not visible traps you just need to click on and choose. You can enter a room that seems completely empty and with no way out and once you’re done with that room it appears to be stuffed with traps and hidden doors. Maybe it’s not your cup of tea, but I assure you that when it is, it’s not boring and it is fleshed out. Also because it’s part of an adventure system (in some cases even covering several countries) and your sim builds up tomb raiding skills. For me JA actually became a symbol of how Sims 4 handles things, because the disappointment was real for that one. I don’t mind it’s smaller, I mind the simplicity, the one dimensional and actually boring approach. The fact traps aren’t traps. They’re just blockades you have to disarm by using an elimination system (the same one over and over and over again). Your sim can’t even try to jump through them and be lucky (like in WA when they’re experienced). And there is no way a trap surprises you (I played every tomb in WA about 3, maybe 4 times by now and that still happens; it even happened when I played my self created tomb recently, had forgotten I had placed a fire trap in front of a treasure chest).
The Get Together club system is an interesting one and I think that most definitely will be personal. If I invite sims over in Sims 3 (for a party or as a group) I have no idea what they are going to do or what is going to happen. That’s a total surprise. It will be based on their personalities, their relationships (are they going to chat, flirt or fight) and coincidence. I organized a party once for a video and I had to redo it a couple of times because the videos had got corrupted for some reason. Every time I restarted the game (and the party) entirely different things happened. I loved that. When I organize a club in Sims 4 I know exactly what’s going to happen. They will all cook, or they will all make their homework, or they will all pretend they are knights, or they will all clean up the park. For me that’s not more fleshed out, I consider sims who act according to their traits and what they see in front of them much more fleshed out. But again, I guess that indeed will be personal.
The video I was referring to:
(all sims in both videos act autonomously; I sat back and did nothing)
That's exactly what I like about clubs, the manipulation. There are plenty of situations where sims act autonomously. You can invite a group out and they'll do anything in TS4 too like parties or to the park or just to come visit you. As opposed to that video I find sims doing just what you would expect at the specific lot, and behave depending on their emotion (however I believe emotions is good on paper but flawed on how they were made. I mean I get that a sim can feel energized at a club with all the pumping and dancing and drinking, but that shouldn't be an urge to drop down and do push ups. I like that they do it because I can usually tell how they feel, but the emotional system IMO has a lot of work to be done) I'm talking about something on top of that, the club system. Being able to create proper movie watching clubs, book clubs, cleaning groups, gym clubs, joining one and taking over it, modifying a myriad of things. It is easily abused and one of my favorite all time additions to the game. Making a club of lunatics is hella fun. This is something else from groups and autonomous gatherings of all sorts, as clubs behave a different way. Also one thing to note from your video: objects. In TS4 video you chose a nightclub that had a bar and the dance floor, that's it. If that's the Windenburg club then the basement is locked per default to that music club vanilla. In TS3 there were keg stands and a pool table, which add in to the autonomy pool of actions a sim will default to take. It's a flavor thing really, I find more believable to see my sims all huddle up dancing and talking than standing there just queuing social interactions at a nightclub, although I usually see some sims at the bar, maybe my self-built nightclubs where I put the bar close to the dance floor as well as other interact-able objects influence it. And I was never able to get that many sims in my lots in TS3 without the use of mods, either by letting NRaas do their magic, forcing them with MasterController to come to the lot, or having smaller worlds with less lots. (I'm a sucker for crowds, and using a more sims per lot mod I've gotten like 50 sims in one nightclub and well, it felt very authentic)
Here is the thing about Savvy Seller, many sets in TS3 store costed more than a GP and some close to an EP. The price tag for what I got was ridiculous and makes any SP in TS4 very much passable in comparison. I wasn't exactly comparing them, perhaps my expression was wrong. I believe the Savvy Seller was an attempt to bring back some of OFB, and for the price and what it brought IMO it was a disaster. Same way I cannot compare a GP to an EP but I can very much say, for example, that JA tried to bring some functionality from WA but failed at it. I'm trying to not compare them but rather judge what they tried to do and how it delivered. Of course, I consider WA a superb pack despite not particularly being a fan of tombs. I enjoy the environmental differences, the particular world related activities, and in that regard JA delivered for me with similar unique dances, the skill, the food, etc. unique to that place.
OFB was superb, at the time it was revolutionary how we were able to run businesses or work actively for that matter even if it was just a business. I haven't played TS2 in 5 years, so I'm trying to make good memory here. OFB IMO gave a more retail-like experience, like all businesses they get to the point where they become stale but it had little charming things like hiring someone to work on making and restocking hand made flowers or robots. The proper cash register as well. TS4 GTW businesses gave me the good ol memories but I miss little things like being able to have more variety for my employees duties and cash registers, although I suppose given the real world trend its not wrong to see more stores using a tablet to dispatch customers. All in all, I'd say overall OFB was more flushed out, and as an Expansion Pack the amount of content it added was magnificent. In fact I consider most of TS2 EPs to be all around superb, and that's not just because there was little to compare it to (TS1)
I love GPs like Dine Out and Spa Day. There's one thing I hated about Dine Out that TS2 had and that is being able to work as waiters or chefs instead of just the owner. Spa Day legit put me in a dozed off mood paired with its music and beautiful sound effects.
I'm sorry if it came across like that, because TS4 most certainly does not beat every feature from previous iterations and in fact has its own many shortcomings. And once again I will state this is all my opinion (not specifically directed at you but because sometimes someone will think that what I am stating, I'm claiming to be right and the rest are wrong and that is never the case.) You can think TS2 is the best sims game ever, or TS3, or TS4, and no one can change that mainly because we have many different playstyles and as you said it all comes down to how you prefer to play the game, that will determine if a feature is good for you or not. I loved First Person Camera and always wanted it because of my playstyle yet I know many who consider it pointless and a waste of time. Oh well.
PS: I'm parked at a drive thru eating a fat burrito in my car heading home so excuse any spelling lol
EDIT: There, got home, revised the post.
EDIT2: I forgot to mention, I've recently installed MCCC Tuner/Control and SCAMv5 to tweak autonomy, much like NRaas Returner that I used in TS3. I've always found vanilla autonomy to be a PITA in every iteration so whenever I get the chance, I mod it or download a mod for it. It works wonders, when I had it setup in TS3 Sims acted much smarter, with a lot more variety and logical actions. I'm happy the same can be done in TS4.
Doesn't it though.
As far as debating I am only going to say this we have four long beautiful years to celebrate life don't hold on to the put the past away move forward to what the future holds this year some aren't so lucky to have four years....
~PrincessRey~
Everyone was born different with different viewpoints, different lives and different stories but on thing remains all of us are connected by the speed of Light.....
Happy Holidays Cinebar,
Whether or not we agree on the Sims I always consider you a " Sim Buddy" hope you find some days of joy to celebrate the season.
~PrincessRey~
ps All I want for Christmas is a shiny, new TS5 with an open world, no bugs, an orange camaro, and doorbells!
I'm excited too! Two EP's per year now yah! I really enjoy this game now.
Don't hold on to that, they could go back to one per year again, they don't have a specific number release.
I would prefer two a year and one GP but who knows.
A Million Dreams / Lyrics from the greatest showman: Reimagined
I close my eyes and I can see
A world that's waiting up for me that I call my own
Through the dark, through the door
Through where no one's been before
But it feels like home
They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say I've lost my mind
I don't care, I don't care, if they call me crazy
We can live in a world that we design
'Cause every night, I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
Oh, a million dreams for the world we're gonna make
There's a house we can build
Every room inside is filled with things from far away
Special things I compile
Each one there to make you smile on a rainy day
They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say we've lost our minds
See, I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy
Run away to a world that we design
'Cause every night, I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
Oh, a million dreams for the world we're gonna make
However big, however small
Let me be part of it all
Share your dreams with me
We may be right, we may be wrong
But I wanna bring you along to the world I see
To the world we close our eyes to see
We close our eyes to see
Every night, I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take
A million dreams for the world we're gonna make
For the world we're gonna make
Songwriters: Benj Pasek / Justin Paul
A Million Dreams lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., BMG Rights Management, Fox Music, Inc
This is us simmers there is no right or wrong but as simmers new and old over a million users have this dream of the sim world we are going to make after a life challenge this ain't colorless its a world where we are all in that we want to make and the Heads have dreams too we all do whom is to say we are right or wrong we just want to go into our world of dreams and maybe this is why Sims 4 is what it is there is still a billion dreams from everyone waiting to be created.....
~PrincessRey~
Let the light shine through for both me and you.......
.
I think it will stay like that. But we never know.
This, exactly! And I am not saying they should drop seasons, pets, etc. At this point, after almost two decades of development, I'd expect these concepts to be already elaborated and ready to be implemeted in a base game. New expansions should bring new gameplay, new ideas.
Wouldn't it be lovely if the next game came with Seasons, Pets, and Toddlers, Teens etc., and Restaurants etc. in the base, then they could work on things we've never seen before. For the price of $80 (the price of TS4 at release) it should have.