March 29th - It's time for our Friday Highlights! You can check them out here!
Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

Looking Forward To the End Of TS4

Comments

  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    edited August 2019
    @Hestia Don’t have time to watch it now but will later. I’m under the impression more gamechangers are being more critical lately? Good, I hope it will open the route to a new vision with a new game. Critique is not about hate, it’s about commitment. And mentioning what you loved or disliked in the past is an important and constructive ingredient for EA to use on that route, not derailing.
    5JZ57S6.png
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    Considering I only really watch James (TheSimSupply) and Deligracy regularly, I've gotta say that both of those have previously and throughout their videos pointed out issues with TS4. At least the ones that *they* feel are important to them. So I don't think it would be that much of a departure from their normal (James more so than Deli though) as they've never been flat out positive only about the game.
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    They did? When? I’m referring to actual gameplay-falling-short-this-is-disappointing kind of critical and standing by it (the way Carl’s did for IL).
    5JZ57S6.png
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    Well, it's not a "I hate this in its entirety" kinda commentary, it's a constant of "this still doesn't work" or "this should've been better" for things they use & have issues. James still doesn't have (and don't think he ever will) MFPS installed because he hates it and has never wavered from that, same way he's been vocal about the ball pit. He's mentioned Dine Out's bugs repeatedly. But yeah, both of them also mention things that are fun to play. I just don't think either of them is uncritical & that either of them pointing out the shortfalls would be new.
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • Jordan061102Jordan061102 Posts: 3,918 Member
    edited August 2019
    Hestia wrote: »
    I think it’s interesting how Plumbella, as an EA Gamechanger is coming out a lot more critiquing on what is lacking of in The Sims 4.

    https://youtu.be/NbbynN2Xoe4

    I think we might see the same going on with James Turner, a.k.a The Sims Supply.

    I think he complains where there's need but I feel like he doesn't dare saying everything he wants. Don't except Deligracy to say what's wrong LMAO. Now I like Plumbella cause she's honest, but Carmen King I love her cause she always says : TS3 is f....ing superior beaches. :joy:
    Lu4ERme.gif
  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    edited August 2019
    Well, it's not a "I hate this in its entirety" kinda commentary, it's a constant of "this still doesn't work" or "this should've been better" for things they use & have issues. James still doesn't have (and don't think he ever will) MFPS installed because he hates it and has never wavered from that, same way he's been vocal about the ball pit. He's mentioned Dine Out's bugs repeatedly. But yeah, both of them also mention things that are fun to play. I just don't think either of them is uncritical & that either of them pointing out the shortfalls would be new.
    I don’t mean “I hate this in its entirety” (haven’t seen this video yet but Carl’s review was highly respectful, thorough and constructive and he doesn’t hate the pack in its entirety). I also don’t mean bugs, bugs are kind of easy to adress and we don’t need gamechangers for that (as are no white shelfs and no black doors), I mean actual gameplay falling short. In a constructive way.
    5JZ57S6.png
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    Well, it's not a "I hate this in its entirety" kinda commentary, it's a constant of "this still doesn't work" or "this should've been better" for things they use & have issues. James still doesn't have (and don't think he ever will) MFPS installed because he hates it and has never wavered from that, same way he's been vocal about the ball pit. He's mentioned Dine Out's bugs repeatedly. But yeah, both of them also mention things that are fun to play. I just don't think either of them is uncritical & that either of them pointing out the shortfalls would be new.
    I don’t mean “I hate this in its entirety” (haven’t seen this video yet but Carl’s review was highly respectful, thorough and constructive and he doesn’t hate the pack in its entirety). I also don’t mean bugs, bugs are kind of easy to adress and we don’t need gamechangers for that (as are no white shelfs and no black doors), I mean actual gameplay falling short. In a constructive way.

    Fair. In that case, neither of them make specific videos the way Plumbella's is. Well, no, Deli did a few months ago.
    Otherwise there's comments peppered through their videos, but you're right in that they don't focus on "what can be done to improve this" or "what isn't working" content on their channels.

    Watching a bit of Plumbella's video, part of the lack of that content from Gamechangers might be that they don't really play the game just to play. So whatever outlook we have as players, they might not notice the same way. But that's just me guessing.

    Back to the topic at hand: okay, I checked Deli and James's channels and they both did a "wishlist" video earlier this year. Granted, that's just the "what's missing" side and not what's not working, but still, it's something. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the stuff they mentioned is build-related lol
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    Well, it's not a "I hate this in its entirety" kinda commentary, it's a constant of "this still doesn't work" or "this should've been better" for things they use & have issues. James still doesn't have (and don't think he ever will) MFPS installed because he hates it and has never wavered from that, same way he's been vocal about the ball pit. He's mentioned Dine Out's bugs repeatedly. But yeah, both of them also mention things that are fun to play. I just don't think either of them is uncritical & that either of them pointing out the shortfalls would be new.
    I don’t mean “I hate this in its entirety” (haven’t seen this video yet but Carl’s review was highly respectful, thorough and constructive and he doesn’t hate the pack in its entirety). I also don’t mean bugs, bugs are kind of easy to adress and we don’t need gamechangers for that (as are no white shelfs and no black doors), I mean actual gameplay falling short. In a constructive way.

    Fair. In that case, neither of them make specific videos the way Plumbella's is. Well, no, Deli did a few months ago.
    Otherwise there's comments peppered through their videos, but you're right in that they don't focus on "what can be done to improve this" or "what isn't working" content on their channels.

    Watching a bit of Plumbella's video, part of the lack of that content from Gamechangers might be that they don't really play the game just to play. So whatever outlook we have as players, they might not notice the same way. But that's just me guessing.

    Back to the topic at hand: okay, I checked Deli and James's channels and they both did a "wishlist" video earlier this year. Granted, that's just the "what's missing" side and not what's not working, but still, it's something. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the stuff they mentioned is build-related lol
    Gamechangers don’t actually play the game the way we do? Or... am I misunderstanding you (might be, genuinely confused). Anyway, not referring to build items missing or bugs, I’m under the impression some YouTubers are more critical than they used to be concerning actual gameplay (and the lack of it).
    5JZ57S6.png
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,710 Member
    I think content creators do play differently than the average sims player. Quite a few of them have their stories mapped out in advance. They know what they want to accomplish in a particular game play session. Some of them might use a particular mod to create a storyline. They also know what features could be problematic so avoid those when playing. At least for the ones that don't stream live. When I play I might have a particular goal in mind, like finding a collectible, or reaching the next level of a skill, but for the most part I just go with the flow.
  • JoAnne65JoAnne65 Posts: 22,959 Member
    I think content creators do play differently than the average sims player. Quite a few of them have their stories mapped out in advance. They know what they want to accomplish in a particular game play session. Some of them might use a particular mod to create a storyline. They also know what features could be problematic so avoid those when playing. At least for the ones that don't stream live. When I play I might have a particular goal in mind, like finding a collectible, or reaching the next level of a skill, but for the most part I just go with the flow.
    But they’re gamechangers. They’re supposed to advise EA (don’t they?). How do players benefit from the fact they’re not playing but are following some sort of personal preset kind of idea that’s got nothing to do with playing the game? I remember when I wrote stories for readers, I’d play that way sometimes. Yelling at my game when my sim refused to do something I wanted them to do for a picture in my story. That’s not playing though. It was fun áfter playing, not during (I still love that part, using pics to tell a story, sort of adding a second hobby to simming, but never by spoiling playing anymore). Going with the flow, that’s when actual playing is the most fun imo.
    5JZ57S6.png
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    edited August 2019
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    Well, it's not a "I hate this in its entirety" kinda commentary, it's a constant of "this still doesn't work" or "this should've been better" for things they use & have issues. James still doesn't have (and don't think he ever will) MFPS installed because he hates it and has never wavered from that, same way he's been vocal about the ball pit. He's mentioned Dine Out's bugs repeatedly. But yeah, both of them also mention things that are fun to play. I just don't think either of them is uncritical & that either of them pointing out the shortfalls would be new.
    I don’t mean “I hate this in its entirety” (haven’t seen this video yet but Carl’s review was highly respectful, thorough and constructive and he doesn’t hate the pack in its entirety). I also don’t mean bugs, bugs are kind of easy to adress and we don’t need gamechangers for that (as are no white shelfs and no black doors), I mean actual gameplay falling short. In a constructive way.

    Fair. In that case, neither of them make specific videos the way Plumbella's is. Well, no, Deli did a few months ago.
    Otherwise there's comments peppered through their videos, but you're right in that they don't focus on "what can be done to improve this" or "what isn't working" content on their channels.

    Watching a bit of Plumbella's video, part of the lack of that content from Gamechangers might be that they don't really play the game just to play. So whatever outlook we have as players, they might not notice the same way. But that's just me guessing.

    Back to the topic at hand: okay, I checked Deli and James's channels and they both did a "wishlist" video earlier this year. Granted, that's just the "what's missing" side and not what's not working, but still, it's something. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the stuff they mentioned is build-related lol
    Gamechangers don’t actually play the game the way we do? Or... am I misunderstanding you (might be, genuinely confused). Anyway, not referring to build items missing or bugs, I’m under the impression some YouTubers are more critical than they used to be concerning actual gameplay (and the lack of it).

    You're not misunderstanding. They play differently because they play with the thought of the next video, the stories they have ongoing, playing what they know that their viewers expect of them.
    If you watch Plumbells's video and look at Deligracy's twitter, they've both mentioned that they don't play just for the sake of playing. In terms of that, their focus is on different things than just basic gameplay the way a regular player would. When they get access to a new pack, they're not thinking "ooh, let me see what this does", they're thinking "okay, must find a way to best showcase the content for a review video".

    I'm sure there are GCs who are more critical and ones who are less so, I only replied because TSS/James was brought up and since I watch his videos, I know that he's definitely not in the "uncritical" group. Whether that's a departure from the past (like, say, back when TS4 came out), I can't say, honestly. because I didn't watch videos chronologically. He's definitely been vocal about mess-ups more than just very recently though.

    ETA: as to the "they're supposed to advise EA" - well, yeah. That doesn't mean they're doing it via their public videos.
    Post edited by SimmyFroggy on
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • simgirl1010simgirl1010 Posts: 35,710 Member
    edited August 2019
    I do think they give feedback and suggestions to the developers but advising EA and playing to an audience are two completely different things. For instance I've seen some YouTubers announce they're taking a day or two off from making and uploading videos because they just want to play the game. Indicating to me that how they play for their own personal enjoyment might be different than how they play a save they plan to upload. It's like watching TV. With a script, editing, maybe even exiting without saving if events don't unfold according to plan.
  • MidnightAuraMidnightAura Posts: 5,809 Member
    I think it depends on the person. Some game changers genuinely love and know the game well. Then there are others that only play the game to review it and never touch the game until the next dlc drops.

    Not naming names. Neither are right or wrong. The ones that don't play it a lot are very obvious. Not a criticism, just a fact.

    They are always advertising the product for EA. That is their job. To make the game look fun and appealing to their community in the hope their community will be influenced by their games reviews and buy the games.

    Burn out I expect is common. Most game changers rely on the Sims as their primary source of income. Whenever we get new dlc to many game changers its a case of "How much content can I make out of this?"
  • Sk8rblazeSk8rblaze Posts: 7,570 Member
    JoAnne65 wrote: »
    Hestia wrote: »
    @Jordan061102 Exactly.

    On a side note, I plan on streaming The Sims 1 this weekend. :)

    The Sims 1 is honestly so much fun. I made a household of eight Sims and moved them up into that big house right at the top right corner of the neighbourhood, after which I just watched to see what sort of trouble they'd get into. I made a lot of personality extremes (one Sim was super messy, one was super active, one was super nice, another was very mean etc.) to mix it up.

    Last week when I watched them there was a massive fire that killed two of them, the party girl Lulu and the head of the house, George. I managed to get someone to reason with Grim to at least save George but they lost, though Grim brought him back as a zombie with no personality. So then everyone had to go to Old Town to find the wise woman who could finish resurrecting him, but after that he still had no personality, so I had to get Billy the Builder (who'd randomly spent 12 hours on a telescope one night without any input) to make a personality reversing potion on the chemistry set (which would fill all of George's personality bars and make him literally perfect seeing as they were all emptied by the zombie process).

    In the process of making potions Billy turned himself invisible three times, almost died after drinking a nasty one, maxed everyone's needs with blue ones, turned another Sim (Randy) into a monster who went on to break every electronic in the house and made a potion that made Bella Goth fall madly in love with George before he FINALLY made the personality reverser to turn George into a super sim.

    Lulu still haunts the house and swims in the floor though.

    THAT is the kind of chaotic madness that The Sims 4 can't touch with a fifty foot barge pole. An entire, utterly ridiculous adventure I could never have anticipated. I have screenshots too once I get back to my PC.

    The Sims 1 was hard. Absolutely, ridiculously hard sometimes to accomplish what you wanted but so rewarding when you did. Just getting my Sim's girlfriend to marry him was ridiculously hard. I loved it. Still do.

    The Sims 3 too easy, the Sims 4 ridiculously easy. No challenge whatsoever.
    Sims 1 focused on achieving things. Making money, having a clean house, building up relationships, that was the core of the game, that being hard to do. Personally for me that was the downside (the reason I quit playing even), only being busy with making them survive. It was the concept but not a concept I need to see return. Sims 3 and 4 being ‘easy’ just comes down to the speed their need bars fill. For me the game doesn’t need to be ‘harder’ in that respect, because it’s an approach that adds grind to the gameplay. Eating, sleeping, working, cleaning, eating, sleeping, working, cleaning, I hate grind. I prefer it they tried to find challenge and fun doing different things than that for simmers.

    (Here I go praising it for the 1000000th time lol) But I honestly feel like The Sims 2 provided the best base difficulty level for all players. It wasn't as difficult as The Sims 1, and not as easy as The Sims 3/4. If we never get difficulty options in The Sims, I think TS2 would be the best game to model difficulty off of.

    With that said however, I'm tired of easy Sims games. I wouldn't at all mind a game that is more challenging. Juggling not only the survival of my Sims but also their well-being (friendships, happiness, wants/desires, careers, affluence, etc.) is something that should really be focused on with the next game.

    The way things are with The Sims 4 right now, it just honestly does not feel like a game at all. There is so little to work for and no feeling of achievement when you accomplish anything.
  • AHolyToiletAHolyToilet Posts: 870 Member
    Hestia wrote: »
    @Jordan061102 Here you go. :)

    OvVQl8o.png

    INDEX

    R = Residential
    C = Community
    E = Empty Lot

    ^ The above can be changed at any time and you can empty the entire neighborhood to adjust it the way you like.

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 41

    ----

    Image courtesy by Sims Wiki.

    latest?cb=20151205012246

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 21

    latest?cb=20151205012343

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 21

    latest?cb=20151205012449

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 15

    latest?cb=20151212204708

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 27

    latest?cb=20180220213358

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 18

    latest?cb=20171110172654

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 16

    latest?cb=20181029123447

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 11

    latest?cb=20190621022510

    TOTAL AVAILABLE LOTS: 14

    ----

    Even though The Sims 1 gave us fixed lots just like The Sims 4, they managed to give us more way back then in a single neighborhood. The very first Sims game offered us more ways to be creative than the latest iteration.

    Love this post. I'll have to use it for when I have to justify (not that it's difficult to) why I've gone from giving the game excuses to just waiting for it to finally end.
  • SumoBSumoB Posts: 1,217 Member
    Exactly, I think the difficulity is key here.
    In the sims 2 (and 1) the case was that there was too little time and so much to do! The lifespan was much shorter in the sims 2, you had to have a job, unless you would starve. Your sims came home from work tired and hungry, which only left a couple of hours to do the freetime activities (much as in real life). It was very hard to master 1 skill, let alone excell at everything! But it was this very thing that made it enjoyable. The difficulity truly reflected life, which it was simulsting.
    The sims 3 did lower the difficulity some, but there was again just SO MUCH STUFF to do, you could never make it all (unless you froze aging, og which had become an option in sims 3).

    In the sims 4, everything is so easy. It is easy to keep sims happy, to make friends, to maintain skills (I am pretty sure you would lose skill points in the sims 2 if you never used them!). On top of that, there is just so little gameplay... You have nothing to do with your sims except dress them and play doll. The LIFE SIMULATION has been left out.. This is more of a doll game than a true life simulator.

    I too am looking forward to the end of this game, but not so sure the 5th iteration will be any better
  • Sk8rblazeSk8rblaze Posts: 7,570 Member
    SumoB wrote: »
    Exactly, I think the difficulity is key here.
    In the sims 2 (and 1) the case was that there was too little time and so much to do! The lifespan was much shorter in the sims 2, you had to have a job, unless you would starve. Your sims came home from work tired and hungry, which only left a couple of hours to do the freetime activities (much as in real life). It was very hard to master 1 skill, let alone excell at everything! But it was this very thing that made it enjoyable. The difficulity truly reflected life, which it was simulsting.
    The sims 3 did lower the difficulity some, but there was again just SO MUCH STUFF to do, you could never make it all (unless you froze aging, og which had become an option in sims 3).

    In the sims 4, everything is so easy. It is easy to keep sims happy, to make friends, to maintain skills (I am pretty sure you would lose skill points in the sims 2 if you never used them!). On top of that, there is just so little gameplay... You have nothing to do with your sims except dress them and play doll. The LIFE SIMULATION has been left out.. This is more of a doll game than a true life simulator.

    I too am looking forward to the end of this game, but not so sure the 5th iteration will be any better

    Exactly!

    This is why games like Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, etc. are so much fun for an extended amount of time. There is so much content, but between tending to the necessities (in their case, the farm as opposed to our Sims' direct needs) and the game clock itself, we cannot explore all of it at once.
  • SimmyFroggySimmyFroggy Posts: 1,762 Member
    It'd be interesting to see how many people would prefer the game to either in general be more difficult or have difficulty sliders/options.

    For me personally, the fact that it's not in TS4 is a win because I play to relax. It's a fine balance, I guess, to find the right combination that suits people and maybe it could be solved by options for how fast needs decay and relationships fade (for what it's worth, I think those tend to vanish a little too fast sometimes).

    When it comes to having things to do, most of my saves have aging off because while I know I could explore different things with different Sims, I get attached & want to take my time getting my Sims to where I want them to be.

    Leisure mode vs Real Life Mode would be a good compromise maybe.
    avatar art: Loves2draw1812
  • EllupelluelluEllupelluellu Posts: 6,783 Member
    Sorry to poke my nose to this conversation again, but reading above posts about level of difficulties, I remembered something.
    I love to play Castaway Stories too, currently at gen 3 after story mode, and in that game , in settings , there can be set the game either "easy", "medium" and "hard" , I once tried the hard-option , and oh boy did those needs dropped fast and it was very difficult to earn a skillpoint.
    My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
    Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
    My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
    Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..

    My Story:Villa Catarina
  • Noree_DoreeNoree_Doree Posts: 1,470 Member
    Sorry to poke my nose to this conversation again, but reading above posts about level of difficulties, I remembered something.
    I love to play Castaway Stories too, currently at gen 3 after story mode, and in that game , in settings , there can be set the game either "easy", "medium" and "hard" , I once tried the hard-option , and oh boy did those needs dropped fast and it was very difficult to earn a skillpoint.

    Oh wow, I didn't know castaway stories had difficulty levels. That's a good fact to know. And you shouldn't apologize for adding to the conversation anyone and everyone is welcome to do so :)
    "Bada su the gorn bada su the brawn bada bady oda aba donk donk donk gerbits gerbits vo gerbits".
  • GoldmoldarGoldmoldar Posts: 11,966 Member
    I know of one difficulty I had in Sims 2 and it was University, I was pulling my hair out trying to get my Sims to study and also keep up thier needs at the same time, for me that was an balancing act and I loved it and had fun. I had to know when to feed my sims coffee as it had an bad after effect.
    Omen by HP Intel®️ Core™️ i9- 12900K W/ RGB Liquid Cooler 32GB Nvidia RTX 3080 10Gb ASUS Ultra-Wide 34" Curved Monitor. Omen By HP Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX 32 GB Nvidia 3070 Ti 8 GB 17.3 Screen
  • KayeStarKayeStar Posts: 6,715 Member
    I am not reading through 47 pages, so forgive me if I say anything that has previously been said.

    I believe Sims 4 should be the last iteration of the game. The Sims series has gone the way of many long-running franchises. It's essentially a cash cow zombie. That's not to say there's nothing good about it (if there weren't, I wouldn't have every pack so far, or so much CC, I needed a separate flash drive), but some of the core issues still have yet to be fixed and at this point, I don't think they ever will be. Dragging it out won't make it better. I still find it abhorrent Sims 4 offers less in certain areas than previous games (why the heck does Sims 1 outdo Sims 4 in lot availability??). I think it's apparent by now the team cares about appearances above all (that eyesore re-branding spells it out).

    My biggest pet peeve with the game is traits, at best, just affect mood buffs. Remember when emotions were promoted as the biggest feature of the game? Speaks for itself. I also remember a tweet some years back by one of the gurus where they talk about "hidden traits" (the ones you can buy as rewards). I think those quickly got old. Now, I do prefer the trait system over the personality one - after all, there are more than ten traits of a personality - but in Sims 4, they seem like more of an "informed attribute" (TV Tropes).
    752d5ef1ccf6be4ae3b2e539a6376fe9ea400d9ar1-320-207_00.gif
  • EllupelluelluEllupelluellu Posts: 6,783 Member
    edited August 2019
    Oh wow, I didn't know castaway stories had difficulty levels. That's a good fact to know.

    Sorry , this is off topic, but I had to look, in case I remembered wrongly :)
    Sims-CS-2019-08-19-04-27-21-90.jpg
    My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
    Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
    My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
    Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..

    My Story:Villa Catarina
  • Jordan061102Jordan061102 Posts: 3,918 Member
    SumoB wrote: »
    Exactly, I think the difficulity is key here.
    In the sims 2 (and 1) the case was that there was too little time and so much to do! The lifespan was much shorter in the sims 2, you had to have a job, unless you would starve. Your sims came home from work tired and hungry, which only left a couple of hours to do the freetime activities (much as in real life). It was very hard to master 1 skill, let alone excell at everything! But it was this very thing that made it enjoyable. The difficulity truly reflected life, which it was simulsting.
    The sims 3 did lower the difficulity some, but there was again just SO MUCH STUFF to do, you could never make it all (unless you froze aging, og which had become an option in sims 3).

    In the sims 4, everything is so easy. It is easy to keep sims happy, to make friends, to maintain skills (I am pretty sure you would lose skill points in the sims 2 if you never used them!). On top of that, there is just so little gameplay... You have nothing to do with your sims except dress them and play doll. The LIFE SIMULATION has been left out.. This is more of a doll game than a true life simulator.

    I too am looking forward to the end of this game, but not so sure the 5th iteration will be any better

    That's perfectly true!
    Lu4ERme.gif
This discussion has been closed.
Return to top