Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

Why isn't TS4 inclusive of family players?

Comments

  • KLAlexisKLAlexis Posts: 472 Member
    More family activities/togetherness would be lovely. I feel like lots of us have been asking/wanting for stuff like this even with Sims 3 and they had the potential to deliver it like no other in Sims 4, but imo the family play looks even more half baked. It is quite disappointing for me. There is probably still a tiny spec of hope that itll change.
    "The truth hurts, but lies kill"
  • SimKonfettiSimKonfetti Posts: 1,361 Member
    edited August 2019
    I also miss how the kind of relationship sims have affects the things they do together. Like when two sims hate each other, I would like to have that reflected when they sit down together and eat (family fights happen at dinner for most of the time) or sims who are in a romantic relationship start to flirt, feed each other, whisper sweet nothings, a mother looks proudly at her daugther in the high chair eating and occasionally grabs the fork to help her etc.

    Or sims who are best friends will help each other when doing snowball fights, while sims who hate each other will throw the snowballs at each other extra hard etc.
  • Evil_OneEvil_One Posts: 4,423 Member
    edited August 2019
    Dakota88 wrote: »
    I just watched all of the TS2 trailers for its EPs and I noticed that they were advertising them with just normal everyday life features like:

    "Your sim can have a roommate (in an apartment) or live alone"
    "Go to the park with your pets"
    "Build friendships over shared interests"
    "Experience dating"
    "Go on vacation to relax"
    "Open up a small family business"
    "Get the whole college experience"

    - these are regular things people do. It's just plain regular. There was nothing fancy or exciting about the things you could do with your sims in TS2, it was simply normal stuff, the stuff people do every day, every week, every year. It's just normal everyday life. And every EP came with so many new features and things to do for your sims, I remember it took me weeks to try everything out and I just realized watching the trailers, there are some things I never even got to try because I was a kid back then and wasn't allowed to play all day.

    In TS4 we have loads of fancy and exciting stuff to do, but we're missing the normal stuff and the EPs lack "stuff to do", it's more about the outside, how it all looks, it's about experiencing exciting things you wouldn't exprience in real life (become a famous youtuber, etc.) it's not so much about LIFE with TS4.

    Oh those TS2 trailers... I still remember watching the Devs video introduction to the Sims with Don, where we saw how each sim could interact with each other and pass witnessed events to friends and family through gossip and those friends would react to it, also we saw the psychiatrist make his first appearance as a result.

    I must've watched most of them about 5 or 6 times.
    Post edited by Evil_One on
    raw
  • SimKonfettiSimKonfetti Posts: 1,361 Member
    edited August 2019
    I remember seeing a preview of TS1 on TV when I was a child in 1999 or 2000. I instantly wanted to have that game, I was never more excited about a game before. It's just such a neat concept, a LIFE simulator. It's a pity the life simulation seems to be left behind these days and swapped out for goals at parties and social media / fame careers.

    Don't get me wrong, I like that we have those, I like to play the social media careers and I actually like the party goals unlike many others here (you can have parties without the goals too anyway), but I just miss the LIFE aspect which makes the idea of a game like the Sims so, so great. Social media and party goals should be a PART of LIFE, not all of it.
  • IceyJIceyJ Posts: 4,641 Member
    Hestia wrote: »
    The best way to look at what EA is trying to appeal to is to look at the old Sims 4 Sims and the new Sims 4 Sims. It's the lack of diversity in personality. Yeah, the new Sims are diverse on the outside, I mean hell they put three LGBT Sims on the cover now how could it NOT be diverse? Because pure and simple, with the exception of the Chef in the middle, they're all practically the same character. Selfies, Parties, Simstagram BORING! Yeah, the old Sims were at most stereotypes or certain personalities, but at least you can tell that each of those characters have personalities outside of being vapid and shallow.

    That's where we're going in the Sims these days. I love Sims 4 but I hate how the game was built up to be a party simulator (and the 'boring' family stuff on the side.)

    The irony of that, is that The Sims 1/2/3 had better parties than TS4. One of the main reasons would be that it wasn’t goal based and there were a lot more things to do, together.

    My biggest gripe in TS4 was when I set up a wedding party, not a single guest went up to the altar to watch the ceremony. It was infuriating! Even though I called them all over. It never happened.

    The Sims 4 party goals are optional, not forced. You can disable them for any party while planning it.
  • DragonCat159DragonCat159 Posts: 1,896 Member
    edited August 2019
    IceyJ wrote: »
    i remember SimGuruGrant tweeting that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only. he also refused to update the babies when Lyndsay Pearson asked him to do so. he personally believes there's no immersion in playing with families and that directly affects the output of the game. so that explains it.

    it's Grant Rodiek decision why we are left asking for more family interactions.

    a family-oriented expansion pack, aka Generations could have been better than Get Famous..

    most of us obviously need more family oriented game play, a full expansion pack dedicated to that aspect i supposed. but no, they be releasing full expansion packs like get famous to cater more on rich instagram girls with rich daddies and stuff who are willing to throw their money at EA no matter how bad the pack is.

    Please don't spread misinformation. You don't know what Grant personally believes and most of what you wrote sounds like either exaggeration or outright lies.
    I don't think there is any misinformation regarding it. I do too, but somewhat not clearly, that some guru did have perplexed outlook why players want babies. Though I do lean on that it was Grant, because how often he is the guru that likes to misinform (since you mention it, it's ironic) the fandom ("TS3 had one expansion pack"), speak over them ("casinos are not interesting for simmers)" when masses correct him or just likes to creates ridiculious claims (who fueled the dog house controversy fiire with his tweet).

    And.... erhhh... although inb4 poster or somebody else in defense could have linked a source to that tweet by now, would you prefer to expand on your counterclaim that we're "exaggerating or outright lying"? And what has belief have to do anything when, in english, somebody specified they remembered a tweet.
    NNpYlHF.jpg
  • IceyJIceyJ Posts: 4,641 Member
    edited August 2019
    IceyJ wrote: »
    i remember SimGuruGrant tweeting that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only. he also refused to update the babies when Lyndsay Pearson asked him to do so. he personally believes there's no immersion in playing with families and that directly affects the output of the game. so that explains it.

    it's Grant Rodiek decision why we are left asking for more family interactions.

    a family-oriented expansion pack, aka Generations could have been better than Get Famous..

    most of us obviously need more family oriented game play, a full expansion pack dedicated to that aspect i supposed. but no, they be releasing full expansion packs like get famous to cater more on rich instagram girls with rich daddies and stuff who are willing to throw their money at EA no matter how bad the pack is.

    Please don't spread misinformation. You don't know what Grant personally believes and most of what you wrote sounds like either exaggeration or outright lies.
    I don't think there is any misinformation regarding it. I do too, but somewhat not clearly, that some guru did have perplexed outlook why players want babies. Though I do lean on that it was Grant, because how often he is the guru that likes to misinform (since you mention it, it's ironic) the fandom ("TS3 had one expansion pack"), speak over them ("casinos are not interesting for simmers)" when masses correct him or just likes to creates ridiculious claims (who fueled the dog house controversy fiire with his tweet).

    And.... erhhh... although inb4 poster or somebody else in defense could have linked a source to that tweet by now, would you prefer to expand on your counterclaim that we're "exaggerating or outright lying"? And what has belief have to do anything when, in english, somebody specified they remembered a tweet.

    If you remember the tweet, then post it. I guarantee that it won't quite match what IntrovertSimmer said. Besides, IntrovertSimmer made a number of claims, not just the one tweet. Simmers tend to misconstrue things that the Gurus say. Sometimes it's just a misunderstanding, english not first language, etc. I know that Grant has said some things; just repeat what he said accurately so it's truth and not fiction.

    I have not mentioned or disputed anything about casinos or dog houses.
  • DragonCat159DragonCat159 Posts: 1,896 Member
    edited August 2019
    *Nevermind*
    NNpYlHF.jpg
  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    IIRC nobody said that. However, the reference was made based on something that was actually said by I believe SimGuruDrake.

    https://simsvip.com/2017/09/03/pax-west-simgurudrake-talks-managing-sims-community/

    Within this panel she talks about TS4 being geared toward teenage girls who are for inclusion, against bullying, and their goal was to make it a safe space for those people.

    So while that technically was not explicitly said, there’s enough breadcrumbs dropped by the studio to make the idea very plausible. A connect the dots, if you will, do you think that burglars never came up in discussions? There is a reason they agreed on a no for 5 years now and when you take into consideration how safe the entirety of Sims 4 is it makes a lot of sense, and it might as well be the case.
  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    IceyJ wrote: »
    i remember SimGuruGrant tweeting that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only. he also refused to update the babies when Lyndsay Pearson asked him to do so. he personally believes there's no immersion in playing with families and that directly affects the output of the game. so that explains it.

    it's Grant Rodiek decision why we are left asking for more family interactions.

    a family-oriented expansion pack, aka Generations could have been better than Get Famous..

    most of us obviously need more family oriented game play, a full expansion pack dedicated to that aspect i supposed. but no, they be releasing full expansion packs like get famous to cater more on rich instagram girls with rich daddies and stuff who are willing to throw their money at EA no matter how bad the pack is.

    Please don't spread misinformation. You don't know what Grant personally believes and most of what you wrote sounds like either exaggeration or outright lies.
    I actually googled because I became curious when I read that statement. Found this series of tweets:





    “I don’t like family play, I play 1-2 sims.” “Most people play 1-2 sims.” That suggests that most simmers aren’t into family play to say the least.
    5JZ57S6.png
  • IceyJIceyJ Posts: 4,641 Member
    edited August 2019
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    IceyJ wrote: »
    i remember SimGuruGrant tweeting that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only. he also refused to update the babies when Lyndsay Pearson asked him to do so. he personally believes there's no immersion in playing with families and that directly affects the output of the game. so that explains it.

    it's Grant Rodiek decision why we are left asking for more family interactions.

    a family-oriented expansion pack, aka Generations could have been better than Get Famous..

    most of us obviously need more family oriented game play, a full expansion pack dedicated to that aspect i supposed. but no, they be releasing full expansion packs like get famous to cater more on rich instagram girls with rich daddies and stuff who are willing to throw their money at EA no matter how bad the pack is.

    Please don't spread misinformation. You don't know what Grant personally believes and most of what you wrote sounds like either exaggeration or outright lies.
    I actually googled because I became curious when I read that statement. Found this series of tweets:





    “I don’t like family play, I play 1-2 sims.” “Most people play 1-2 sims.” That suggests that most simmers aren’t into family play to say the least.

    None of that equals: "that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only." Not Even Close.

    He said what his playstyle is, and in a different tweet threw out some statistics. By the way, 2 sims can still be a family.
  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    Sims 4 follows every trend going- I don’t think that’s up for dispute.

    I agree family play is still missing a lot. It has improved but family relationships still feel empty in many ways. Sims 2 definitely had it better.

    And that will be this game's downfall.
    mHdgPlU.jpg?1
  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    Dakota88 wrote: »
    I just watched all of the TS2 trailers for its EPs and I noticed that they were advertising them with just normal everyday life features like:

    "Your sim can have a roommate (in an apartment) or live alone"
    "Go to the park with your pets"
    "Build friendships over shared interests"
    "Experience dating"
    "Go on vacation to relax"
    "Open up a small family business"
    "Get the whole college experience"

    - these are regular things people do. It's just plain regular. There was nothing fancy or exciting about the things you could do with your sims in TS2, it was simply normal stuff, the stuff people do every day, every week, every year. It's just normal everyday life. And every EP came with so many new features and things to do for your sims, I remember it took me weeks to try everything out and I just realized watching the trailers, there are some things I never even got to try because I was a kid back then and wasn't allowed to play all day.

    In TS4 we have loads of fancy and exciting stuff to do, but we're missing the normal stuff and the EPs lack "stuff to do", it's more about the outside, how it all looks, it's about experiencing exciting things you wouldn't exprience in real life (become a famous youtuber, etc.) it's not so much about LIFE with TS4.

    IT'S A LIFESIMULATOR PEOPLE! The fun, is in just that! TS4 isn't a lifesimulator....it's...something completely different, it's why it doesn't click with me as part of the Sims franchise.
    mHdgPlU.jpg?1
  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    edited August 2019
    IceyJ wrote: »
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    IceyJ wrote: »
    i remember SimGuruGrant tweeting that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only. he also refused to update the babies when Lyndsay Pearson asked him to do so. he personally believes there's no immersion in playing with families and that directly affects the output of the game. so that explains it.

    it's Grant Rodiek decision why we are left asking for more family interactions.

    a family-oriented expansion pack, aka Generations could have been better than Get Famous..

    most of us obviously need more family oriented game play, a full expansion pack dedicated to that aspect i supposed. but no, they be releasing full expansion packs like get famous to cater more on rich instagram girls with rich daddies and stuff who are willing to throw their money at EA no matter how bad the pack is.

    Please don't spread misinformation. You don't know what Grant personally believes and most of what you wrote sounds like either exaggeration or outright lies.
    I actually googled because I became curious when I read that statement. Found this series of tweets:





    “I don’t like family play, I play 1-2 sims.” “Most people play 1-2 sims.” That suggests that most simmers aren’t into family play to say the least.

    None of that equals: "that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only." Not Even Close.

    He said what his playstyle is, and in a different tweet threw out some statistics. By the way, 2 sims can still be a family.
    Just sharing what I could find. I don’t know if he ever said anything along those lines. The statement most simmers play 1-2 sims surprises me. Has it always been like that? Or is it just Sims 4? I’ve followed quite a few stories and legacies in the past and most families people played counted more than 1-2 sims. Actually it almost always came down to building a family.
    5JZ57S6.png
  • SindocatSindocat Posts: 5,622 Member
    I don't get it.

    I am on my second generation of family raising (my founders' oldest child has a toddler, now, their second youngest is a teen, the youngest is a child) and there is a lot to do with all of those stages.

    Infants don't do a lot, it's true. But they do require care, which with Parenthood does raise the Parenting skill. I didn't play TS2, but TS3's burrito-babies weren't any more engaging.

    My parents have individual parenting styles, and my children all develop distinct personalities. Family members in non-active households frequently come to visit, or call asking my Sims to visit. Family members in active households seek each other out for interactions autonomously, and steadily roll whims regarding their family.

    The founders in the family dynasty I am playing in TS4 are recreations of my first couple in TS3, who never decided to have a family, in that game. In this version, they finally shared the wish at the same time. I am glad they waited. I am finding that continuing their story as a more mature couple, with family aspirations, is much more satisfying than the family play I did in TS3.

    I scanned this topic initially because "family friendly" is sometimes a dog-whistle for other agendas, which ended up not being the case in this thread. But I am legitimately puzzled by the idea that there isn't good integration of family play, because it's what I do, and I have really been enjoying it, even with the "sticky hands" glitch current for all my Gen 2 Toddlers.
  • SimKonfettiSimKonfetti Posts: 1,361 Member
    Sigzy05 wrote: »
    Dakota88 wrote: »
    I just watched all of the TS2 trailers for its EPs and I noticed that they were advertising them with just normal everyday life features like:

    "Your sim can have a roommate (in an apartment) or live alone"
    "Go to the park with your pets"
    "Build friendships over shared interests"
    "Experience dating"
    "Go on vacation to relax"
    "Open up a small family business"
    "Get the whole college experience"

    - these are regular things people do. It's just plain regular. There was nothing fancy or exciting about the things you could do with your sims in TS2, it was simply normal stuff, the stuff people do every day, every week, every year. It's just normal everyday life. And every EP came with so many new features and things to do for your sims, I remember it took me weeks to try everything out and I just realized watching the trailers, there are some things I never even got to try because I was a kid back then and wasn't allowed to play all day.

    In TS4 we have loads of fancy and exciting stuff to do, but we're missing the normal stuff and the EPs lack "stuff to do", it's more about the outside, how it all looks, it's about experiencing exciting things you wouldn't exprience in real life (become a famous youtuber, etc.) it's not so much about LIFE with TS4.

    IT'S A LIFESIMULATOR PEOPLE! The fun, is in just that! TS4 isn't a lifesimulator....it's...something completely different, it's why it doesn't click with me as part of the Sims franchise.

    Guess you should have read my post till the end, I wasn't criticising TS2 for it, on the contrary I was saying how much TS4 misses the life simulation aspect.
  • SimKonfettiSimKonfetti Posts: 1,361 Member
    edited August 2019
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    IceyJ wrote: »
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    IceyJ wrote: »
    i remember SimGuruGrant tweeting that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only. he also refused to update the babies when Lyndsay Pearson asked him to do so. he personally believes there's no immersion in playing with families and that directly affects the output of the game. so that explains it.

    it's Grant Rodiek decision why we are left asking for more family interactions.

    a family-oriented expansion pack, aka Generations could have been better than Get Famous..

    most of us obviously need more family oriented game play, a full expansion pack dedicated to that aspect i supposed. but no, they be releasing full expansion packs like get famous to cater more on rich instagram girls with rich daddies and stuff who are willing to throw their money at EA no matter how bad the pack is.

    Please don't spread misinformation. You don't know what Grant personally believes and most of what you wrote sounds like either exaggeration or outright lies.
    I actually googled because I became curious when I read that statement. Found this series of tweets:





    “I don’t like family play, I play 1-2 sims.” “Most people play 1-2 sims.” That suggests that most simmers aren’t into family play to say the least.

    None of that equals: "that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only." Not Even Close.

    He said what his playstyle is, and in a different tweet threw out some statistics. By the way, 2 sims can still be a family.
    Just sharing what I could find. I don’t know if he ever said anything along those lines. The statement most simmers play 1-2 sims surprises me. Has it always been like that? Or is it just Sims 4? I’ve followed quite a few stories and legacies in the past and most families people played counted more than 1-2 sims. Actually it almost always came down to building a family.

    I guess people sharing their stories online and posting hundreds and thousands of comments on a sims forum since 2004 or something aren't "the majority of players" but are rather Sims hardcore fans. People like me who spent over 1000 $ on a PC just so I could play TS3 without lagging or people like you who've played this game since forever.

    I am pretty sure the majority of players are people who play occassionally, and when they do, they make a new household and start up with 1 or 2 sims and have them do stuff. Sometimes they might have a kid or two, but most of the time they will quit playing again for the next few weeks and when they get back to the game, they start off again with their new 1 or 2 YAs.

    I remember this pie chart meme:

    funny-graphs-you-dont-even-play.png

    And I think this is, in fact, the majority of players. They never get to having kids and playing families. And TS4 does cater to those people.
  • IceyJIceyJ Posts: 4,641 Member
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    IceyJ wrote: »
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    IceyJ wrote: »
    i remember SimGuruGrant tweeting that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only. he also refused to update the babies when Lyndsay Pearson asked him to do so. he personally believes there's no immersion in playing with families and that directly affects the output of the game. so that explains it.

    it's Grant Rodiek decision why we are left asking for more family interactions.

    a family-oriented expansion pack, aka Generations could have been better than Get Famous..

    most of us obviously need more family oriented game play, a full expansion pack dedicated to that aspect i supposed. but no, they be releasing full expansion packs like get famous to cater more on rich instagram girls with rich daddies and stuff who are willing to throw their money at EA no matter how bad the pack is.

    Please don't spread misinformation. You don't know what Grant personally believes and most of what you wrote sounds like either exaggeration or outright lies.
    I actually googled because I became curious when I read that statement. Found this series of tweets:





    “I don’t like family play, I play 1-2 sims.” “Most people play 1-2 sims.” That suggests that most simmers aren’t into family play to say the least.

    None of that equals: "that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only." Not Even Close.

    He said what his playstyle is, and in a different tweet threw out some statistics. By the way, 2 sims can still be a family.
    Just sharing what I could find. I don’t know if he ever said anything along those lines. The statement most simmers play 1-2 sims surprises me. Has it always been like that? Or is it just Sims 4? I’ve followed quite a few stories and legacies in the past and most families people played counted more than 1-2 sims. Actually it almost always came down to building a family.

    Yeah, I don't know. I think we'd all be suprised if we knew the actual statistics for the game. Some simmers still play offline, though, so their gameplay wouldn't be tracked.

    I wouldn't be shocked if most simmers play with only a few sims because more than that can be challenging. And stressful. Also, there are probably lots of casual players who maybe don't get too deep into gameplay. Make one sim and just start playing.
  • IceyJIceyJ Posts: 4,641 Member
    Sindocat wrote: »
    I don't get it.

    I am on my second generation of family raising (my founders' oldest child has a toddler, now, their second youngest is a teen, the youngest is a child) and there is a lot to do with all of those stages.

    Infants don't do a lot, it's true. But they do require care, which with Parenthood does raise the Parenting skill. I didn't play TS2, but TS3's burrito-babies weren't any more engaging.

    My parents have individual parenting styles, and my children all develop distinct personalities. Family members in non-active households frequently come to visit, or call asking my Sims to visit. Family members in active households seek each other out for interactions autonomously, and steadily roll whims regarding their family.

    The founders in the family dynasty I am playing in TS4 are recreations of my first couple in TS3, who never decided to have a family, in that game. In this version, they finally shared the wish at the same time. I am glad they waited. I am finding that continuing their story as a more mature couple, with family aspirations, is much more satisfying than the family play I did in TS3.

    I scanned this topic initially because "family friendly" is sometimes a dog-whistle for other agendas, which ended up not being the case in this thread. But I am legitimately puzzled by the idea that there isn't good integration of family play, because it's what I do, and I have really been enjoying it, even with the "sticky hands" glitch current for all my Gen 2 Toddlers.

    This thread puzzled me, also. Because after we got toddlers, parenthood, etc. some were shouting 'why do they only cater to family players???' Lol. This game could certainly use more, but I don't consider it lacking in that area.
  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    Dakota88 wrote: »
    Sigzy05 wrote: »
    Dakota88 wrote: »
    I just watched all of the TS2 trailers for its EPs and I noticed that they were advertising them with just normal everyday life features like:

    "Your sim can have a roommate (in an apartment) or live alone"
    "Go to the park with your pets"
    "Build friendships over shared interests"
    "Experience dating"
    "Go on vacation to relax"
    "Open up a small family business"
    "Get the whole college experience"

    - these are regular things people do. It's just plain regular. There was nothing fancy or exciting about the things you could do with your sims in TS2, it was simply normal stuff, the stuff people do every day, every week, every year. It's just normal everyday life. And every EP came with so many new features and things to do for your sims, I remember it took me weeks to try everything out and I just realized watching the trailers, there are some things I never even got to try because I was a kid back then and wasn't allowed to play all day.

    In TS4 we have loads of fancy and exciting stuff to do, but we're missing the normal stuff and the EPs lack "stuff to do", it's more about the outside, how it all looks, it's about experiencing exciting things you wouldn't exprience in real life (become a famous youtuber, etc.) it's not so much about LIFE with TS4.

    IT'S A LIFESIMULATOR PEOPLE! The fun, is in just that! TS4 isn't a lifesimulator....it's...something completely different, it's why it doesn't click with me as part of the Sims franchise.

    Guess you should have read my post till the end, I wasn't criticising TS2 for it, on the contrary I was saying how much TS4 misses the life simulation aspect.

    I know, I was just ranting. I completely agreed with your post! :smiley:
    mHdgPlU.jpg?1
  • SimKonfettiSimKonfetti Posts: 1,361 Member
    Sigzy05 wrote: »
    Dakota88 wrote: »
    Sigzy05 wrote: »
    Dakota88 wrote: »
    I just watched all of the TS2 trailers for its EPs and I noticed that they were advertising them with just normal everyday life features like:

    "Your sim can have a roommate (in an apartment) or live alone"
    "Go to the park with your pets"
    "Build friendships over shared interests"
    "Experience dating"
    "Go on vacation to relax"
    "Open up a small family business"
    "Get the whole college experience"

    - these are regular things people do. It's just plain regular. There was nothing fancy or exciting about the things you could do with your sims in TS2, it was simply normal stuff, the stuff people do every day, every week, every year. It's just normal everyday life. And every EP came with so many new features and things to do for your sims, I remember it took me weeks to try everything out and I just realized watching the trailers, there are some things I never even got to try because I was a kid back then and wasn't allowed to play all day.

    In TS4 we have loads of fancy and exciting stuff to do, but we're missing the normal stuff and the EPs lack "stuff to do", it's more about the outside, how it all looks, it's about experiencing exciting things you wouldn't exprience in real life (become a famous youtuber, etc.) it's not so much about LIFE with TS4.

    IT'S A LIFESIMULATOR PEOPLE! The fun, is in just that! TS4 isn't a lifesimulator....it's...something completely different, it's why it doesn't click with me as part of the Sims franchise.

    Guess you should have read my post till the end, I wasn't criticising TS2 for it, on the contrary I was saying how much TS4 misses the life simulation aspect.

    I know, I was just ranting. I completely agreed with your post! :smiley:

    Ah, sorry, I misunderstood!
  • SimKonfettiSimKonfetti Posts: 1,361 Member
    edited August 2019
    IceyJ wrote: »
    Sindocat wrote: »
    I don't get it.

    I am on my second generation of family raising (my founders' oldest child has a toddler, now, their second youngest is a teen, the youngest is a child) and there is a lot to do with all of those stages.

    Infants don't do a lot, it's true. But they do require care, which with Parenthood does raise the Parenting skill. I didn't play TS2, but TS3's burrito-babies weren't any more engaging.

    My parents have individual parenting styles, and my children all develop distinct personalities. Family members in non-active households frequently come to visit, or call asking my Sims to visit. Family members in active households seek each other out for interactions autonomously, and steadily roll whims regarding their family.

    The founders in the family dynasty I am playing in TS4 are recreations of my first couple in TS3, who never decided to have a family, in that game. In this version, they finally shared the wish at the same time. I am glad they waited. I am finding that continuing their story as a more mature couple, with family aspirations, is much more satisfying than the family play I did in TS3.

    I scanned this topic initially because "family friendly" is sometimes a dog-whistle for other agendas, which ended up not being the case in this thread. But I am legitimately puzzled by the idea that there isn't good integration of family play, because it's what I do, and I have really been enjoying it, even with the "sticky hands" glitch current for all my Gen 2 Toddlers.

    This thread puzzled me, also. Because after we got toddlers, parenthood, etc. some were shouting 'why do they only cater to family players???' Lol. This game could certainly use more, but I don't consider it lacking in that area.

    I don't think it's specifically lacking family gameplay, it's seriously lacking life simulation - the normal things people do, as I mentioned above and which were actually advertised in TS2 EPs. This is why TS2 became people's fav game back in the day because their sims were normal people and could do stuff normal people do.

    I do like the new careers we got in TS4 and I like all the tech stuff, it's fun and it belongs to life in 2019. Of course I got sims who want to be famous youtubers and style influencers, why not? But I do miss the regular everyday life stuff that just isn't there. It's not like it's lacking completely, but the game is seriously lacking important features of its life simulation aspect. And that's sad.

  • CinebarCinebar Posts: 33,618 Member
    IceyJ wrote: »
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    IceyJ wrote: »
    i remember SimGuruGrant tweeting that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only. he also refused to update the babies when Lyndsay Pearson asked him to do so. he personally believes there's no immersion in playing with families and that directly affects the output of the game. so that explains it.

    it's Grant Rodiek decision why we are left asking for more family interactions.

    a family-oriented expansion pack, aka Generations could have been better than Get Famous..

    most of us obviously need more family oriented game play, a full expansion pack dedicated to that aspect i supposed. but no, they be releasing full expansion packs like get famous to cater more on rich instagram girls with rich daddies and stuff who are willing to throw their money at EA no matter how bad the pack is.

    Please don't spread misinformation. You don't know what Grant personally believes and most of what you wrote sounds like either exaggeration or outright lies.
    I actually googled because I became curious when I read that statement. Found this series of tweets:





    “I don’t like family play, I play 1-2 sims.” “Most people play 1-2 sims.” That suggests that most simmers aren’t into family play to say the least.

    None of that equals: "that family-gameplay doesnt really appeal to most players so they decided to release Parenthood as a game pack only." Not Even Close
    He said what his playstyle is, and in a different tweet threw out some statistics. By the way, 2 sims can still be a family.

    When people say family play they mean children and grandparents fully fleshed out. They rarely mean a couple, but possibly single parent and a child and or grandparent and a child. He was lead producer, I think he had a lot of influence in what goes in and what doesn't. I don't believe one minute he actually played TS4, not after working on it all day. I rather doub that about any of them, but they might surprise me. The only person I knew for sure who actually played the game was Will Wright, he would download other people's mods and cc and try it out and loved it and played his game with it. If you read what people play who are working on TS4 it's never TS4 it's usually a mmorpg, or something else. You can ask what they are playing and it's never TS4. Because if they played as much as we do they would know it's shortfalls and it's bugs. So, I can't be made to believe they play it like players play. It shows when they load a game and try to show us a walkthrough. They basically know what is supposed to happen but when it doesn't they move on to something else, or laugh the Sim didn't do what it should have done. Which most of the time isn't funny when it costs us money.

    I'm just saying didn't like dog houses, no dog houses. Didn't like large families, shallow kids and teens. And elderly might as well be a doorknob.

    "Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
  • SimKonfettiSimKonfetti Posts: 1,361 Member
    https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sims_Olympus

    Oh my god, this is just the worst Sims version I can imagine. If TS5 will be like that, I will quit buying sims games.
Sign In or Register to comment.
Return to top