The one thing that has always been bothering me about any of the sims games is that none of the stuff you buy actually changes the game unless you make it happen (apart from seasons). I'd love to be more challenged, for traits to have more impact and stuff like that. Once you know how the games work it isn't hard to get everything you want.
Sims isn’t the kind of game where things being hard to get is the focus. Sims is about the journey, not about the goal.
But that's not really what I meant tho. The games don't have to be hard, but they could provide more challenge. Take Seasons for example, where you have to dress for the weather or freeze. Those small things really impact your gameplay and I'd love to see more of that.
I know ts4 has mistakes. But In my opinion it was never meant to be a life simulator. I was a "dollhouse" simulator. Hence the vampires, zombies dancing in the background, occults and all of the silly unrealistic things sims have always had in general. Many players want so badly for it to be a realistic as possible life simulator when it was never meant to be that.
That's why sims is not even that challenging besides the dropping needs and minimum time. It's suppose to be a journey like Joanne said. There is no true end goal.
I personally love dollhouses. I have 4 of them,3 of which I remodeled and designed myself. When I was playing sims4 about 2 years ago the "normal way" I kept getting bored and taking breaks. Then when I started playing like it was a "dollhouse" I've found a new found love for it and I've been addicted ever since. And I believe that's how it's meant to be played for the most part.
The one thing that has always been bothering me about any of the sims games is that none of the stuff you buy actually changes the game unless you make it happen (apart from seasons). I'd love to be more challenged, for traits to have more impact and stuff like that. Once you know how the games work it isn't hard to get everything you want.
Sims isn’t the kind of game where things being hard to get is the focus. Sims is about the journey, not about the goal.
But that's not really what I meant tho. The games don't have to be hard, but they could provide more challenge. Take Seasons for example, where you have to dress for the weather or freeze. Those small things really impact your gameplay and I'd love to see more of that.
I know ts4 has mistakes. But In my opinion it was never meant to be a life simulator. I was a "dollhouse" simulator. Hence the vampires, zombies dancing in the background, occults and all of the silly unrealistic things sims have always had in general. Many players want so badly for it to be a realistic as possible life simulator when it was never meant to be that.
That's why sims is not even that challenging besides the dropping needs and minimum time. It's suppose to be a journey like Joanne said. There is no true end goal.
I personally love dollhouses. I have 4 of them,3 of which I remodeled and designed myself. When I was playing sims4 about 2 years ago the "normal way" I kept getting bored and taking breaks. Then when I started playing like it was a "dollhouse" I've found a new found love for it and I've been addicted ever since. And I believe that's how it's meant to be played for the most part.
I agree the Sims was not meant to be life simulator, it was meant to be more of an parody on simulating life according to the creator. Sims got part of it's inspiration from an game that was called "Little Computer People". I still have an copy of that game, they took the concept an little further than what LCP offered.
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The one thing that has always been bothering me about any of the sims games is that none of the stuff you buy actually changes the game unless you make it happen (apart from seasons). I'd love to be more challenged, for traits to have more impact and stuff like that. Once you know how the games work it isn't hard to get everything you want.
Sims isn’t the kind of game where things being hard to get is the focus. Sims is about the journey, not about the goal.
But that's not really what I meant tho. The games don't have to be hard, but they could provide more challenge. Take Seasons for example, where you have to dress for the weather or freeze. Those small things really impact your gameplay and I'd love to see more of that.
I know ts4 has mistakes. But In my opinion it was never meant to be a life simulator. I was a "dollhouse" simulator. Hence the vampires, zombies dancing in the background, occults and all of the silly unrealistic things sims have always had in general. Many players want so badly for it to be a realistic as possible life simulator when it was never meant to be that.
That's why sims is not even that challenging besides the dropping needs and minimum time. It's suppose to be a journey like Joanne said. There is no true end goal.
I personally love dollhouses. I have 4 of them,3 of which I remodeled and designed myself. When I was playing sims4 about 2 years ago the "normal way" I kept getting bored and taking breaks. Then when I started playing like it was a "dollhouse" I've found a new found love for it and I've been addicted ever since. And I believe that's how it's meant to be played for the most part.
I agree the Sims was not meant to be life simulator, it was meant to be more of an parody on simulating life according to the creator. Sims got part of it's inspiration from an game that was called "Little Computer People". I still have an copy of that game, they took the concept an little further than what LCP offered.
I don't really care how The Sims series is labelled or viewed. TS4 is nothing like TS1 through TS3 and that's what is it's biggest mistake. I think the devs and EA realized this and why it's rebranded to be something else. I also think they are correcting their mistakes and TS5 will be the true successor to The Sims series, following in the same spirit of TS1 through TS3.
I know ts4 has mistakes. But In my opinion it was never meant to be a life simulator. I was a "dollhouse" simulator. Hence the vampires, zombies dancing in the background, occults and all of the silly unrealistic things sims have always had in general. Many players want so badly for it to be a realistic as possible life simulator when it was never meant to be that.
That's why sims is not even that challenging besides the dropping needs and minimum time. It's suppose to be a journey like Joanne said. There is no true end goal.
I personally love dollhouses. I have 4 of them,3 of which I remodeled and designed myself. When I was playing sims4 about 2 years ago the "normal way" I kept getting bored and taking breaks. Then when I started playing like it was a "dollhouse" I've found a new found love for it and I've been addicted ever since. And I believe that's how it's meant to be played for the most part.
Sorry, missed your post. Yes, that’s possible. For me it doesn’t work like that unfortunately. I loved playing with dolls as a girl, but for a game for me that’s not enough. I’m not into the game from a completely gaming perspective either though (I think Sims 1 catered simmers who are the most). I need a bit of both: game and dollhouse.
The one thing that has always been bothering me about any of the sims games is that none of the stuff you buy actually changes the game unless you make it happen (apart from seasons). I'd love to be more challenged, for traits to have more impact and stuff like that. Once you know how the games work it isn't hard to get everything you want.
Sims isn’t the kind of game where things being hard to get is the focus. Sims is about the journey, not about the goal.
But that's not really what I meant tho. The games don't have to be hard, but they could provide more challenge. Take Seasons for example, where you have to dress for the weather or freeze. Those small things really impact your gameplay and I'd love to see more of that.
I know ts4 has mistakes. But In my opinion it was never meant to be a life simulator. I was a "dollhouse" simulator. Hence the vampires, zombies dancing in the background, occults and all of the silly unrealistic things sims have always had in general. Many players want so badly for it to be a realistic as possible life simulator when it was never meant to be that.
That's why sims is not even that challenging besides the dropping needs and minimum time. It's suppose to be a journey like Joanne said. There is no true end goal.
I personally love dollhouses. I have 4 of them,3 of which I remodeled and designed myself. When I was playing sims4 about 2 years ago the "normal way" I kept getting bored and taking breaks. Then when I started playing like it was a "dollhouse" I've found a new found love for it and I've been addicted ever since. And I believe that's how it's meant to be played for the most part.
I agree the Sims was not meant to be life simulator, it was meant to be more of an parody on simulating life according to the creator. Sims got part of it's inspiration from an game that was called "Little Computer People". I still have an copy of that game, they took the concept an little further than what LCP offered.
I don't really care how The Sims series is labelled or viewed. TS4 is nothing like TS1 through TS3 and that's what is it's biggest mistake. I think the devs and EA realized this and why it's rebranded to be something else. I also think they are correcting their mistakes and TS5 will be the true successor to The Sims series, following in the same spirit of TS1 through TS3.
I agree as well that Sims 4 is their biggest mistake but as far correct all mistakes just may not happen and maybe for technical reasons and monetary reasons. As far as Sims 5 goes EA/Maxis has to go over and beyond and I sincerely hope they do not follow Sims 4. If Paralives does real well I may not have to follow Sims series to get my fix. Some of the features in Sims 4 is not bad and I do like the connection of the neighborhoods and some of the building techniques, but that is not enough to get me to play Sims 5.
Post edited by Goldmoldar on
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I hope you all get the Sims 5 you want but at the moment I am quite enjoying Sims 4. I'm writing as an elderly Simmer though who gets tired of all the quests and difficulties in games these days. It works as a dolls' house for me where I build the UK houses I want my Sims to live in and rotational plays of my worlds. There may be mistakes in the game but I love it nonetheless.
From my perspective, and I come from a dolls house and miniature house building background, what I would want in a game is freedom to build and freedom to let my sims do what I want them to do - nothing more, nothing less. I would like to create buildings that match my imagination, with the tools that allow me to do so. I would also like my sims to be able to use build and buy objects in any way I wish my sims to use them, allowing imagination full rein.
This is not to say that I don't want any gameplay - it's fine to be there for people who want to use it - but at the same time, at least allow the player freedom to do whatever they want in the game. For example, put in a ticket machine so a player can have their sim making money from a building they have created for that use. Have retail if people want it, but offer just that small opportunity to put a ticket machine at a gate - like a park or a swimming pool, or a bowling alley. Put a ticket machine in a cafe and have the sims eating whatever food your sims produce, even it its just a ticket machine required to enter the cafe. This gives freedom instead of having to play the way someone else imagines it. I don't feel that's a lot to ask. It's such a small thing that would make such a big difference.
Let players offer rooms to rent so they can play a hotel, or a guest house. Such a small amount of coding but so much freedom.
I think Sims 4 has delved much too far into specific gameplay and specific lots for that gameplay that it's taken away the players' ability to use their imaginations and build and play the game with freedom.
So for me, instead of devs trying to work out how a university student might not eat and taking away cookers in the university - let the player decide if the student will have a cooker or not! If a player wants a cooker, let them have it. If the player doesn't want a cooker, let them take it away! It's not a big deal. Museums are the absolute worst culprit for being boring - why can't npc's use objects? Why is it that all they can do is view this, or view that? It's so boring! Let the player decide what will be in the museum! In cafe's I sometimes have my sim working as a waitress or a cook in a cafe and at least there is programming for npc's to eat the food my sim makes. But she can't clean that cafe counter even when it's green, which is frequent! So frustrating for the player. Most npc's clean their plates themselves - why?
Players are very good at making up their own stories and their own scenarios - all they need are the tools and the ability for npc's to use objects. With a little thought, this could have so easily been added to the game.
I live in hope that this freedom will be offered at some point in the future.
From my perspective, and I come from a dolls house and miniature house building background, what I would want in a game is freedom to build and freedom to let my sims do what I want them to do - nothing more, nothing less. I would like to create buildings that match my imagination, with the tools that allow me to do so. I would also like my sims to be able to use build and buy objects in any way I wish my sims to use them, allowing imagination full rein.
This is not to say that I don't want any gameplay - it's fine to be there for people who want to use it - but at the same time, at least allow the player freedom to do whatever they want in the game. For example, put in a ticket machine so a player can have their sim making money from a building they have created for that use. Have retail if people want it, but offer just that small opportunity to put a ticket machine at a gate - like a park or a swimming pool, or a bowling alley. Put a ticket machine in a cafe and have the sims eating whatever food your sims produce, even it its just a ticket machine required to enter the cafe. This gives freedom instead of having to play the way someone else imagines it. I don't feel that's a lot to ask. It's such a small thing that would make such a big difference.
Let players offer rooms to rent so they can play a hotel, or a guest house. Such a small amount of coding but so much freedom.
I think Sims 4 has delved much too far into specific gameplay and specific lots for that gameplay that it's taken away the players' ability to use their imaginations and build and play the game with freedom.
So for me, instead of devs trying to work out how a university student might not eat and taking away cookers in the university - let the player decide if the student will have a cooker or not! If a player wants a cooker, let them have it. If the player doesn't want a cooker, let them take it away! It's not a big deal. Museums are the absolute worst culprit for being boring - why can't npc's use objects? Why is it that all they can do is view this, or view that? It's so boring! Let the player decide what will be in the museum! In cafe's I sometimes have my sim working as a waitress or a cook in a cafe and at least there is programming for npc's to eat the food my sim makes. But she can't clean that cafe counter even when it's green, which is frequent! So frustrating for the player. Most npc's clean their plates themselves - why?
Players are very good at making up their own stories and their own scenarios - all they need are the tools and the ability for npc's to use objects. With a little thought, this could have so easily been added to the game.
I live in hope that this freedom will be offered at some point in the future.
This is a very interesting post actually. Because while on one hand Sims 4 is this dollhouse sort of game where you just push around your sims, having to make up everything yourself, at the same time it’s indeed exactly what you say here: a game with very strict rules and limitations, focused on deciding everything for the player. That’s a strange contradiction (in a worst of both worlds kind of way for me)
I actually really agree with Sucom's post. I think Sims 4 has this weird double standard of you can do anything while trying to "protect" the player from anything harmful, which, quite frankly, is a little insulting and definitely conflicts with the whole dollhouse concept. When I played with legoes, of course I had villains. Of course there were stakes. People could die "off-screen." Friendships and romances could be unequal. When it comes down to it, though, no game can be all things to all people, and I still don't understand what Sims 4 wants to be. My guess is a weird utopia, but when no one really mourns your characters after they die and friendships can go from acquaintances to best friends within a day or two, it starts to make ALL interactions feel less meaningful. Maybe that's the underlying theme of the Sims 4: nothing really matters so live comfortably. I don't know, I really want to love this game, and I do love the house construction elements (minus the lack of spiral stairs) but I am just bewildered by how shallow the live-play is, and I have no idea where this game is going now. The community seems like it's hurting, and I feel bad for the gurus, too.
This is so insightful. The game has been set up in a way that wants to present the idea of creative freedom on the part of the player, but in actuality it is limited. The cellphone is a prime example of this. It should be one feature for the game that players have the option of using or not, rather than being fully integrated into the lives of all Sims. Even if I never allowed my Sim to use their cellphone, they'd still get the texts and calls from other Sims. If the Sims is supposed to be a dollhouse simulator or a life simulator, players should be able to fully control all aspects of that dollhouse or life. I've always wanted to play Sims in historical eras, but the suspension of disbelief is broken when there's so much modern aesthetic tied intricately into the entire game.
For me, first... the game seems repetitive and pointless. All Sims are virtually the same: no wants, fears, whims are gone, no romance feature, and trait impacts are laughable. In other games, at least I was working towards aspirations and wants/fears that made Sims different from each other... but being able to switch aspirations make them meaningless (as they are so easy to reach anyway), and don't get me started on the whims feature...
Then there's nothing to do with teens (I suppose that with Parenthood, kids are ok). They're like mini adults with absolutely NOTHING that distinguishes them as teens.
I've yet to see a pack that really improved gameplay either, sadly.
Oh, so many mistakes were made. The glacial pace of releases for supernatural content, the lack of any sort of Create-A-World or one-click world clearing, the difficulty nerfs, the insane length of the dog walking action (the "short walk" takes, like, 3 sim hours!), DLC for DLC, several base game features not being present at launch or being withheld for packs (most infamously, hot tubs), pandering to players who are so bad at videogames that they don't even know how to save scum (I mean, that's one of the first things you learn to do as a gamer: save often, make safety saves, and exit and reload if you don't get your way...), the snowball/water balloon fight animations...
However, I think the biggest mistake was the decision to give us the barest minimum of gameplay options. It's the reason for the difficulty nerfs, it's the reason why supernatural gameplay has been so heavily neglected, it's the reason why there is a constant tug-o-war between players who want to be rotational puppet masters who orchestrate their sims' whole lives and players who like their sims and worlds to progress without them when they swap households. A robust menu of options is extremely important in a game like this, where players are allowed and expect to play God, to give them the options to set up their game however they please. Mods are alright, but they tend to break after updates and can be a chore to maintain. Mods are not the solution to a lack of built-in options, they are a Flintstones bandaid over a ten-inch-long, two-inch-deep gash in your leg when what you really need is stitches. Those stitches, in this case, would be patching in advanced gameplay settings.
1) A game with too many restrictions for a sandbox life simulator game.
2) No Create a Style
3) As in 1) apartments are way too much restricted in build mode.
4) Too many Small worlds and few big ones.
5) Cannot customise neighbourhoods at all / rotate lots, etc.
6) Sims with just 3 tratis. Why?
7) Emotion system is a disaster:
All sims behave exactly the same.
Emotions can be modified very easily.
Emotions can ruin your story if your sim is supposed to feel in a determined way but he/she just shows the other way because the effect of an object nearby.
8) No swimming in lakes/oceans/seas/rivers except in Sulani.
9) Multitasking should be redone: sims getting up during a film and block the screen, sims eating in the toilet, sims getting up from the chairs for no purpose...
10) No Story Progression. Incredible but true.
11) Too many stuff packs.
12) Life mode is boring, nothing out of the ordinary happens. When I play TS3 people just die more frecuently, they argue on the street, they fight, you can be robbed.... it's.... LIFE.
The Sims 3 was very ambitious with the open world, Create a World and Create a Style and the game was full of bugs. But we have to keep in mind that modders fixed many of them and if you use these mods, you can play the game perfectly well. I can tell you this because I'm still playing it and some years ago I couldn't. So if modders can fix many of the unfixed bugs, EA/Maxis can. An open world is possible with few bugs. The problem is the time to implement a good coding, and time to test it thoroughtly, and time to fix possible bugs. And time means MONEY.
We all already know the problems of the base code of TS4 and the limitations generated by this awkward coding (besides the limitations devs add to the game to avoid performance issues).
I hope that if there's a Sims 5, they mix the best of TS2, TS3 and TS4. It's possible in terms of technology and programming, but it will take time to create a good base game that can be flexible for the future packs.
Personally it's the immaturity of even elders in the game that really annoys me the most. The ridiculous 5 year old potty humour etc.
Not all simmers are kiddies EA. As another simmer mentioned in an earlier reply, I am an elder simmer, a senior citizen and the childishness of this game can make me want to throw my PC out the window some days.
BUT, it's the careless bug riddled updates that really get me hot under the collar.
I am a deep closed test team member for some very high end simulation manufacturers and Sims is NOT a sim.
I build training simulators for emergency response training and natural disaster training.
I can tell when coders are being lazy and slack. EA is full of them now sadly.
I truly believe the only thing that will save our fun will be a massive class action law suite to drag EA\Maxis into line with modern consumer rights thinking.
EA, respect your customers because WE are you only pay packet. It really is that simple.
Personally it's the immaturity of even elders in the game that really annoys me the most. The ridiculous 5 year old potty humour etc. Not all simmers are kiddies EA. As another simmer mentioned in an earlier reply, I am an elder simmer, a senior citizen and the childishness of this game can make me want to throw my PC out the window some days.
This! So much of this!
EA/Maxis doesn’t seem to remember that this franchise is about to turn 20 years old.
We have long since bypassed the generation of adults who’ve never played a video game. Even elder generations today have played video games for entertainment and it is a huge mistake to forget this, because unlike the younger generations, these older players know better. Not to mention have more flexible budgets!
Granted, Sims has always included a certain amount of potty humor, but it was always tempered with a balance of dark and tragedy.
Until you get to Sims 4, which seems to be “Rated T: for toddlers” (with apologies to the Simmer who coined the idea, I can’t recall your tag)
This game has been dumbed down, politically corrected to the extent it’s bordering on needing a rename to Stepford Sims.
Personally like the class action lawsuit idea. Thought has crossed my mind from time to time. Anyone know how to initiate one? Any company that made tangible goods with the same quality as TS4 would have been out of business a good while ago (how many Yugos have you seen lately?), not to mention probable legal issues.
Personally like the class action lawsuit idea. Thought has crossed my mind from time to time. Anyone know how to initiate one? Any company that made tangible goods with the same quality as TS4 would have been out of business a good while ago (how many Yugos have you seen lately?), not to mention probable legal issues.
True, TS4 is dangerously close to being the LuLaRoe of videogames: a low quality, over priced product with a business model built on stringing people along and sucking as much money as possible from them while constantly promising them something amazing. It's an embarrassment.
And theyre still at it. I can't even check email without being bombarded by 'play with life' adds by EA promoting TS4 on sale. Relentless pursuit of more pigeons.
And theyre still at it. I can't even check email without being bombarded by 'play with life' adds by EA promoting TS4 on sale. Relentless pursuit of more pigeons.
Remember when EA didn't have to make the base game borderline free to get people to play and purchase constantly discounted DLC? I think it was sometime around when the game wasn't a buggy mess, but fun and innovative.
1. No teens, the biggest deal breaker for me.
2. Worlds that can not be customized. They are boring and static.
3. The constant smiling. I made a stepford savefile. Been there, done that.
4. The sims are all the same. There is no point in playing more than one household. They are all the same.
Comments
But that's not really what I meant tho. The games don't have to be hard, but they could provide more challenge. Take Seasons for example, where you have to dress for the weather or freeze. Those small things really impact your gameplay and I'd love to see more of that.
I know ts4 has mistakes. But In my opinion it was never meant to be a life simulator. I was a "dollhouse" simulator. Hence the vampires, zombies dancing in the background, occults and all of the silly unrealistic things sims have always had in general. Many players want so badly for it to be a realistic as possible life simulator when it was never meant to be that.
That's why sims is not even that challenging besides the dropping needs and minimum time. It's suppose to be a journey like Joanne said. There is no true end goal.
I personally love dollhouses. I have 4 of them,3 of which I remodeled and designed myself. When I was playing sims4 about 2 years ago the "normal way" I kept getting bored and taking breaks. Then when I started playing like it was a "dollhouse" I've found a new found love for it and I've been addicted ever since. And I believe that's how it's meant to be played for the most part.
I agree the Sims was not meant to be life simulator, it was meant to be more of an parody on simulating life according to the creator. Sims got part of it's inspiration from an game that was called "Little Computer People". I still have an copy of that game, they took the concept an little further than what LCP offered.
I don't really care how The Sims series is labelled or viewed. TS4 is nothing like TS1 through TS3 and that's what is it's biggest mistake. I think the devs and EA realized this and why it's rebranded to be something else. I also think they are correcting their mistakes and TS5 will be the true successor to The Sims series, following in the same spirit of TS1 through TS3.
I agree as well that Sims 4 is their biggest mistake but as far correct all mistakes just may not happen and maybe for technical reasons and monetary reasons. As far as Sims 5 goes EA/Maxis has to go over and beyond and I sincerely hope they do not follow Sims 4. If Paralives does real well I may not have to follow Sims series to get my fix. Some of the features in Sims 4 is not bad and I do like the connection of the neighborhoods and some of the building techniques, but that is not enough to get me to play Sims 5.
This is not to say that I don't want any gameplay - it's fine to be there for people who want to use it - but at the same time, at least allow the player freedom to do whatever they want in the game. For example, put in a ticket machine so a player can have their sim making money from a building they have created for that use. Have retail if people want it, but offer just that small opportunity to put a ticket machine at a gate - like a park or a swimming pool, or a bowling alley. Put a ticket machine in a cafe and have the sims eating whatever food your sims produce, even it its just a ticket machine required to enter the cafe. This gives freedom instead of having to play the way someone else imagines it. I don't feel that's a lot to ask. It's such a small thing that would make such a big difference.
Let players offer rooms to rent so they can play a hotel, or a guest house. Such a small amount of coding but so much freedom.
I think Sims 4 has delved much too far into specific gameplay and specific lots for that gameplay that it's taken away the players' ability to use their imaginations and build and play the game with freedom.
So for me, instead of devs trying to work out how a university student might not eat and taking away cookers in the university - let the player decide if the student will have a cooker or not! If a player wants a cooker, let them have it. If the player doesn't want a cooker, let them take it away! It's not a big deal. Museums are the absolute worst culprit for being boring - why can't npc's use objects? Why is it that all they can do is view this, or view that? It's so boring! Let the player decide what will be in the museum! In cafe's I sometimes have my sim working as a waitress or a cook in a cafe and at least there is programming for npc's to eat the food my sim makes. But she can't clean that cafe counter even when it's green, which is frequent! So frustrating for the player. Most npc's clean their plates themselves - why?
Players are very good at making up their own stories and their own scenarios - all they need are the tools and the ability for npc's to use objects. With a little thought, this could have so easily been added to the game.
I live in hope that this freedom will be offered at some point in the future.
This is so insightful. The game has been set up in a way that wants to present the idea of creative freedom on the part of the player, but in actuality it is limited. The cellphone is a prime example of this. It should be one feature for the game that players have the option of using or not, rather than being fully integrated into the lives of all Sims. Even if I never allowed my Sim to use their cellphone, they'd still get the texts and calls from other Sims. If the Sims is supposed to be a dollhouse simulator or a life simulator, players should be able to fully control all aspects of that dollhouse or life. I've always wanted to play Sims in historical eras, but the suspension of disbelief is broken when there's so much modern aesthetic tied intricately into the entire game.
Then there's nothing to do with teens (I suppose that with Parenthood, kids are ok). They're like mini adults with absolutely NOTHING that distinguishes them as teens.
I've yet to see a pack that really improved gameplay either, sadly.
However, I think the biggest mistake was the decision to give us the barest minimum of gameplay options. It's the reason for the difficulty nerfs, it's the reason why supernatural gameplay has been so heavily neglected, it's the reason why there is a constant tug-o-war between players who want to be rotational puppet masters who orchestrate their sims' whole lives and players who like their sims and worlds to progress without them when they swap households. A robust menu of options is extremely important in a game like this, where players are allowed and expect to play God, to give them the options to set up their game however they please. Mods are alright, but they tend to break after updates and can be a chore to maintain. Mods are not the solution to a lack of built-in options, they are a Flintstones bandaid over a ten-inch-long, two-inch-deep gash in your leg when what you really need is stitches. Those stitches, in this case, would be patching in advanced gameplay settings.
2) No Create a Style
3) As in 1) apartments are way too much restricted in build mode.
4) Too many Small worlds and few big ones.
5) Cannot customise neighbourhoods at all / rotate lots, etc.
6) Sims with just 3 tratis. Why?
7) Emotion system is a disaster:
- All sims behave exactly the same.
- Emotions can be modified very easily.
- Emotions can ruin your story if your sim is supposed to feel in a determined way but he/she just shows the other way because the effect of an object nearby.
8) No swimming in lakes/oceans/seas/rivers except in Sulani.9) Multitasking should be redone: sims getting up during a film and block the screen, sims eating in the toilet, sims getting up from the chairs for no purpose...
10) No Story Progression. Incredible but true.
11) Too many stuff packs.
12) Life mode is boring, nothing out of the ordinary happens. When I play TS3 people just die more frecuently, they argue on the street, they fight, you can be robbed.... it's.... LIFE.
The Sims 3 was very ambitious with the open world, Create a World and Create a Style and the game was full of bugs. But we have to keep in mind that modders fixed many of them and if you use these mods, you can play the game perfectly well. I can tell you this because I'm still playing it and some years ago I couldn't. So if modders can fix many of the unfixed bugs, EA/Maxis can. An open world is possible with few bugs. The problem is the time to implement a good coding, and time to test it thoroughtly, and time to fix possible bugs. And time means MONEY.
We all already know the problems of the base code of TS4 and the limitations generated by this awkward coding (besides the limitations devs add to the game to avoid performance issues).
I hope that if there's a Sims 5, they mix the best of TS2, TS3 and TS4. It's possible in terms of technology and programming, but it will take time to create a good base game that can be flexible for the future packs.
Young Adults being exactly like Adults.
Not all simmers are kiddies EA. As another simmer mentioned in an earlier reply, I am an elder simmer, a senior citizen and the childishness of this game can make me want to throw my PC out the window some days.
BUT, it's the careless bug riddled updates that really get me hot under the collar.
I am a deep closed test team member for some very high end simulation manufacturers and Sims is NOT a sim.
I build training simulators for emergency response training and natural disaster training.
I can tell when coders are being lazy and slack. EA is full of them now sadly.
I truly believe the only thing that will save our fun will be a massive class action law suite to drag EA\Maxis into line with modern consumer rights thinking.
EA, respect your customers because WE are you only pay packet. It really is that simple.
This! So much of this!
EA/Maxis doesn’t seem to remember that this franchise is about to turn 20 years old.
We have long since bypassed the generation of adults who’ve never played a video game. Even elder generations today have played video games for entertainment and it is a huge mistake to forget this, because unlike the younger generations, these older players know better. Not to mention have more flexible budgets!
Granted, Sims has always included a certain amount of potty humor, but it was always tempered with a balance of dark and tragedy.
Until you get to Sims 4, which seems to be “Rated T: for toddlers” (with apologies to the Simmer who coined the idea, I can’t recall your tag)
This game has been dumbed down, politically corrected to the extent it’s bordering on needing a rename to Stepford Sims.
True, TS4 is dangerously close to being the LuLaRoe of videogames: a low quality, over priced product with a business model built on stringing people along and sucking as much money as possible from them while constantly promising them something amazing. It's an embarrassment.
Remember when EA didn't have to make the base game borderline free to get people to play and purchase constantly discounted DLC? I think it was sometime around when the game wasn't a buggy mess, but fun and innovative.
2. Worlds that can not be customized. They are boring and static.
3. The constant smiling. I made a stepford savefile. Been there, done that.
4. The sims are all the same. There is no point in playing more than one household. They are all the same.
On the upside, I have come to love the sims 3