When I first saw the adverts for the Sims 1 on the TV I used to think how could such a game be fun. But after a while and seeing so many great reviews I decided to give it a go. I was hooked! And when the Sims 2 came out I was worried about the aging process not knowing there were ways to stop it with the elixir of life. The Sims 2 was even more awesome and to be honest the best game I have played on the PC.
The Sims 3 was so so. It had great content but I had trouble with the open world and zooming in, maybe my getting old and having motion problems. Also later on the glitches/crashes with all content was a problem because is had not been addressed.
So we come to the Sims 4. It started out mean and lean but has expanded over time. I didn't like the game so much but came to warm to it. Although some expansions have cause me problems with my game and especially goals in the game. When I loaded Seasons suddenly all my wanting to find those crops had suddenly become seasoned based. Make a Greenhouse or go without, which meant I had to take time out to do that. I am not one for downloading items, never have been because of some of the issues they may cause.
I have had many of my older Sim Players say to me, if an updated Sims 2 was made to run on newer computer they would still be playing the Sims.
I understand that you want to make newer things to do in a game for newer players, but do you not realise how many people you have lost over time because of your changes?
Are you not in the business of making money? Why are you not giving those faithful player things they want? Are you thinking that the younger generation are suddenly go to take to the new type of Sim games? I know things have changed a lot since the Sims 1 but one fact remains that the core objectives of the game have not.
I don't dislike that you introduce time limited things into the game, but as someone who has played the Sims from the start wants to achieve everything for our little Sim people. And when you don't re-introduce those time limited things again they are lost and to me I personally feel I have missed out and therefore not keen to play.
I wonder if some of you are focused on what many of the real hard core Sim Players want in the game? Or are you trying to lure new younger people into the game with new ideas? New is not bad but you need to keep a balance.
And another thing I would like to say about downloading. I saw the writing on the wall may years ago when this was mooted in the Sims 2 forum, with downloads v content on a disk. When I have to download something from origin on a Sim game it often takes over an hour. Content on a CD disk used to take 10 minutes at most. Now I have to wait for my download before can play. That has put me off a lot.
I need to feel as like I did over 10 years ago, that my game was so special and I enjoyed it so much that missing a day was a tragedy. Sorry but cant feel that with the Sims 4 although it is a pleasant game to play when I feel like it
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I too would like to see a return of some of the features from past games but there are still many older simmers playing and enjoying the game. I'm one and I started with The Sims. And I believe EA is making plenty of money from the Sims 4.
SIms 1 was the first PC game I ever got. It came free with my brand new desktop. I don't think we will ever get the quirkiness and uniqueness of the Sims 1 back. I loved Sims 2, it was such a step up from Sims 1, which for me was more rigid, in Sims 2 you could edit the town, make your own community lots. I remember making shopping malls and trailer parks. But Sims 3 is my favourite, it improved on Sims 2 with Create-A-Style and Open World, two things lost in Sims 4. I see Sims 4 as a major step backward for whatever reason EA wants to use as an excuse. Perhaps it's different now then when it first came out, I only bought the base game and was so disappointed and underwhelmed. I maybe could have played it longer than the few days I gave it if we had been able to do at least some of the things we could in Sims 2, like edit the town. I like to build and I like to edit my towns. The Sims 4 is cartoony and silly to me and seems geared towards a much younger gamer.
So I continue playing Sims 3 while hoping for a real sequel in Sims 5. Not holding my breath.
We all have a difference of opinion on what is good. I'm one of the starting from Sims 1 simmers who absolutely disliked Sims 3. Had to take a break during that time .. and I hope some aspects of what was in that game never return to the series personally. Of course the developers don't work for me so I guess I need to enjoy this iteration while it's in full swing and hope I'll enjoy the next game when it's made.
Then BAM! here comes Sims 3 in which the Devs really allowed you to build, create Sims but went further by allowing users to customize thier creations and not just with the basic colors, you can almost design your home clothes, houses, etc in any color or design you wamt also they done away with loading screens and allowed the user to create thier own worlds. This came at cost to those with weaker machine as it required an lot of processing power and I was glad I did not suffer that fate. I felt Sims 3 lost an part of the quirks revolving arould the Sims themselve but It still was an accomplishment for me and I feel it was more of an Dev inability to properly tweak its program and apply fixes in an timely manner, also I experienced problems caused by the Dev themselves rather than an spec issue
Then comes along Sims 4 which sadly lost of the features that existed in Sims 2 and 3 and had controversy surrounding the nature of the engine that was used. The Dev had supposely used an engine from an failed project instead of building it from scratch. I found the game to be dull and dry and could not play more than 30 minutes. The colors were Bleh and the furniture blocky, the lots are static and now I must wait for EA/Maxis to give me one. Sims 4 for me is not an stellar product and in my eyes will never be. The packs are gimped for performance reasons and controversy will always surround Sims 4 and for me my memories will be always how Sims 4 had so much controversy. There are an few times when I thought Sims 4 was pulling ahead only to let down later like with CL, I was initally pumped to hear we will have apts in CL and than get let down because I will not be able to make my own apts from scratch and also no apts outside of CL what an bummer and that is only one of the let downs. Sims 2 and then Sims 3 will always be on the top of list.
As technology advances, so do new ways of storing data. I'm afraid that many computers these days do not come with CD/DVD drives. Mine didn't, but I was able to buy an external CD drive. I still have my Sims 1 and Sims 2 CDs, but sadly neither one will ever install on my computer due to changes in the Operating System that no longer recognize the codes. Am I sad? Sort of. But I still play Sims.
I have to admit that I mainly play Sims 3 these days simply because there is still so much for me to explore in the game.
I agree with you on the aspect of a lot more to discover and I still have an lot to discover in Sims 2 and Sims 3, However in SIms 3 for me I only touched the tip of the Iceberg. Yeah more and more companies even empty cases are designed to go digital upfront. You still can find cases with an 3.25 external bay that you can put in an DVD/Blu-ray drive and when I build those are the only ones I look for. Luckily for me I have all my codes for Sims 1 to Sims 3 and I can still use the codes but these days I do not need to use them as they are registered with Origin and I access my games through Origin now but I am stilll going to hold on those codes. In time as the OS evolves, the game may become inaccessible if the OS does not recognize legacy programs, I call this the degrading effect as technology evolves meaning programs written years ago may not work as it did once before and it does not apply to all programs, however if you have an system from yesteryear it should run that program as it ran when it first came out. The only downer the system cannot be updated software wise.
I haven't tried to reinstall any of the old Sims games (Origin does recognise my S3 game, if I wanted to reload that), but I can't play Creatures 2 anymore. Someone released an online version that is compatible with Windows 7 +, but it doesn't work with my custom content, so it's not really playable.
From an environmental and cost perspective, discs don't make sense. It costs more for a company to produce a physical disk and packaging, and they lose money if they produce more than they can sell. From an environmental standpoint, I'm totally in favour of reducing both energy and resources used in production, as well as waste on the other side. There is another hidden plus for gamemakers - they might be able to sell a recoded game thirty years down the road to nostalgia fans who want to play games from their childhood. (A number of 80s console games have been brought back that way.)
There are some advantages to letting Origin manage everything. I no longer have to make sure I've got the CD code when I buy a new computer, and I really like not having to keep the Sims disc in my drive all the time. (I do have a CD drive, and for some things, like the extended cut from favourite films - LOTR! - I like to have the discs. That will probably change as download times get faster and we have more storage available.) Another argument against CDs is that they do degrade over time, especially the older ones. I transferred my entire music collection to my external drive (and to the cloud) after discovering that some CDs I'd purchased in the early 90s were already unplayable.
I have to disgree with almost everything you said. Internet and power cost just as much as producing a cd when it comes to the health of the earth. I have always taken care of all my discs. Never lost any, never lost a code. I guess I cared about the things I spent money on. We have never had to leave a disc in the drive in any Sim game. Once you start it up you can remove a disc. Unless you installed that Securom DRM starting with BV, but TS3 didn't contain Securom and most of TS2 didn't. Let's talk about costs. I have to pay for Origin to phone home (just like SecuRom) to tell EA what I have done on my computer all day, yes, it can do that and it does. Not that I just played one of it's games but what sites I went to, what I did while I was offline and if I opened a picture editor or a document. So, that's part of the privacy we give away.
If I want to play a game that is DLC only, I have to keep internet, have to keep a connection, wifi or direct connect....more money. Discs, I don't need any of that. Lot more money to spend on more games if a player doesn't have to keep internet, or a wifi connection or whatever. All that must be considered too, when figuring out costs of what it takes to play a game we might like. Since it require an online connection 90% of time for whatever reasons, must maintain Anti Virus (more money) free anti virus isn't going to protect a machine like paid anti virus software, so there again, cost of anti virus must be figured in for playing a DLC. And possible cost of a third party firewall. Discs, never had to get update/fix for bugs online, could run in use a connection save to desktop or thumbdrive, and disconnect. Save patch for later to install later at my own time, or forever, if I ever had to reinstall. A lot more player friendly when player has control of their machine and when.
Server costs may out weigh the cost to a company to produce a cd. Sure they save on box art, but they do the box art anyway, for the site to advertize a cover for how the game looks. Yes, they have cut out the middle man, but they then have to hire people to keep up with the server and maintain it...so same difference. And someone to maintain the updates so people can download those..again another person hired. So, it's all the same difference. The one thing they gain is you become the product, not what they are selling and they can buy and sell your info to many other companies and make more money on you than you just buying a disc.
As with anything there are pluses and there are minuses, I can live with digital as well as physical. For me it is essential to have an physical drive not just for going forward, I have over 4000 to 5000 programs on CD, DVD, Blu-ray and they span from the beginning days of the CD-Rom up to now and that does not include the programs or person files which increases what I have. I am what you call an computer pack rat that saves everything and hate to dispose of it. The plus of going digital saves on the need of physical space in which physical media does eat up space. But the minus is when companies goes digital, if you do not have that installer file in which it frees up the program need to phone home or talk to an third party company such as Steam you may lose access to that program and there is no guarantee that an patch or whatever will allow to access it. GOG(Good Old Games) is one of the companies I like to use as it allows me to DL the Installer file and I can install on multiple systems and I do not need GOG afterwards like one needs Steam(Which I use as well because of the sales) The cloud is nice and I do use it but I also keep an physical copy because the cloud is not 100% error free as some can lose info if it burps.
Going digital many thought in the past that companies prices would go down, it did but not for all as one can see buying Anthem digital still cost the same as an physical copy if available. As said I can use digital and physical media when available I also have my entire music libary on my hard drive as I know all about damaged physical media Going digital puts an requirement on how fast your DL speed is as well. Digital does not work well for those who does not have an ISP or thier speed runs at an snail pace and some companies like Comcast now have an cap on how much you can DL per month unless you pay $50 dollars more on your bill and I have to do that because I DL a whole lot. There are more minuses and more pluses but it depends on how you operate.
Sorry, but disc rot is a real thing - it's not like I was tossing my discs around like frisbees. (Of course, that's also why I don't like handling the discs, so I'd just leave my Sims disc in all the time. Less chance of scratching.) I also live in a dry climate, which is hazardous to plastic and anything glued.
In any event, you need an internet connection to register your game in order to play it. Very few companies would manufacture discs without this minimum protection against piracy. And it's simply absurd to argue that it takes more energy and resources to download a game than to manufacture and ship discs, not to mention the other end - the disposal of discs that are never purchased and those that are purchased but no longer wanted. (Recycling helps, but that takes energy, too - better to avoid mining the petroleum and aluminium in the first place.) When my department converted from paper to digital, it saved us loads of money - the cost of sending files is far less than printing and mailing paper.
In other words, if I can't reduce my personal footprint to zero, I should just give up, buy a big honkin' SUV and toss everything in a landfill? I'm not a young person - I probably won't be around for the consequences - but I do care about the kids who will have to deal with it.
But to get back on thread, your CDs are going the way of the dinosaur. Vinyl's made a resurgence because there is a sound quality difference. CDs don't have that advantage, and it's cheaper for companies to sell games and books in digital form, because it takes more energy to produce things than bytes. (It's like arguing that an SUV doesn't use more energy and produce more pollution than a compact car. You can prefer an SUV for legitimate reasons - maybe you've got six kids, or you feel nervous driving a small car among all those giant trucks, but that doesn't change the fact that you're using more energy.)
Now I just don't have the room to store all of those pack and manuals. I still am hoarding them in large boxes but sigh with relief when my latest pack downloads in a couple of minutes via my superfast virginmedia cable link. It's easier for me. I do miss the manuals though.
(I've got nearly 400 Amazon e-books out of necessity as heaven knows where I could put them in paper form either. I've got too many of the real books already and shelves are full).
My dream Sims game would probably be largely 2-esque with the gameplay and neighbourhood customisation, with the humour and quirkiness of 1, the supernaturals from 3 and the CAS and build mode of 4. I think that every instalment has had good things to offer, though, 2 still remains my favourite.
Your version looks good to me. I loved buying a shop in Sims 2 or working from home. All I wanted from 3 was a better version of 2 with an open neighbourhood being a plus factor. 3 was a great disappointment.
I never once registered my TS2 game to play it. If I wanted the free stuff I did. ETA: OP, I'm sorry we are going off topic somewhat but DLC is a change since most discs are not discs but only a code to download so it's sort of within the topic header. What has changed now, is now the life simulator has moved to scripted gameplay.
Sim 2: quirky, detailed, focus on personalities, memories and family
Sims 3: open, creative, lots of options and ways to fully customize the game, slightly realistic
Sims 4: friendly for low end computers, focus on visual effects, cartoony
That’s how I see it. And it’s completely irrelevant which one I happen to prefer. Can’t blame Maxis for that.
Favourite Worlds Sims 3: Hidden Springs, Barnacle Bay, Riverview, Isla Paradiso, Sunlit Tides, Monte Vista, Dragon Valley, Al Simhara, Shang Simla, Roaring Heights, Lunar Lakes
Favourite Worlds Sims 4: Britechester, Windenburg, Sulani - possibly Mt. Komorebi
I didn't realise when the Sims 3 site ended that a big part of my life would be over for good. Do I feel hard done to? YES! Do I wish that they would bring back a game which allows imagination full rein? YES! Will it ever happen? I doubt it. I see new players of Sims 4 unhappy about long term players negativity and criticism, but it's not easy to see something which took up such a large part of your life, filling many hours with pleasure, slowly but surely slip away from you with no return in sight. Do I resent EA for taking it away? I'm afraid I do. Forgive me for asking this but do the new developers of this game actually play the game? And did they actually play Sims 3? I mean, really spend time on it? If so, can they not see themselves what's so badly lacking in Sims 4? They just keep coming out with the same stuff, still lacking anything which allows the players' imaginations to come through. I always thought that new games would naturally move forward and improve over time, not go backwards. It's just so annoying to lose something that created hours and hours of pleasure and enjoyment.
Some can settle for a lot less and call it great.
I can't and when there is my money involved, I won't.
I also love the download option, no longer do I have to worry about disks wreaking or not losing them when I want to reinstall them all on a new machine. Digital download may take longer (based on your connection) but at least you will never lose them! I love that!