I think my time is divided into three activities.
Design the houses and apartments the way I want (20%), CAS, especially redesigning NPCs (20%) and the rest of the time I play the game.
I think I actually split my time fairly equally between building and playing the game. It just takes me a long time to get my house and world just right.
About 80% in live mode, 10% downloading and renovating/redesigning lots from the Gallery, 10% in CAS. Only have 1 mod currently and I never kill my sims.
I usually build in TS4 and very rarely play. However, right now I am going after the legacy achievement of 26 generations - but I do not wish to exploit my way up - so basically I don't want to age up sims with a cake quickly. The only age I do that for is baby to toddler. Then I play through the toddler, to child, to teen, to adult and then elderly stages and have my ageing turned onto normal lifespan as the other two are either too quick, or too long. I have noticed I have had to turn ageing off until my adult sims are pregnant for the next gen to be born, then resume ageing) My current toddler is 3rd gen and her grandparents just passed away of old age :( So that's what I am doing right now with the sims :)
One thing that does concern me and don't know if it is part of the game or not is the toddlers. The toddlers when in the same household can interact with each other, babble and say nonsense, but if I have one toddler and go to a community lot or residential lot where another toddler is/resides, the toddler I am playing can only interact with another toddler when they are playing dolls or something. When I click on the other toddler (whilst playing as a toddler) the only option coming available is "send home" I just wonder if this is deliberate or if it's a bug? I am so sure they had other options before? (Also I don't have eco living yet, don't all the packs yet and I do not use any mods either)
Although I don't play alot, usually I play with the sims most of the time, but I could also spend hours in build mode and CAS. I like to build from sratch so it takes time when I do that. if I'm lazy I just add premade rooms to the house.
I used to have like 40 save files. I would make a sim play through a couple days and then get bored. I don't have the attention span to play for more than a generation, and I suck at building.
I'm mainly playing a rotation. It's generational because the sims do age but because there are so many, that's currently gradual.
I build or redecorate. I also make or edit my own sims unless a pre-made joins my game. If that happens, it's for story reasons, not due to lack of interest. I have a bunch of different sims interacting with each other.
I spend most of my time playing the game. I always have. But I do like building (both from scratch and "renovating" lots I download from the Gallery. I've even uploaded a couple of my "from scratch" lots. I love my custom content, mainly so that I can get "purple" clothing for my Sims. (Although I understand how it slowed TS3 down, I still *really* miss the Color Wheel! My download folder for TS3 was so small but now my download folder is almost as big as the one I had for TS2!)
I actually play the game. Whenever my PC allows me...
There is just sooooo much to do and see (if you're ready to use your imagination a bit and don't just sit and wait and demand more and more from the creators) and i've grown to love my absolutely weird and oh! so often adorably dumb sims that a lot of times i find myself just watching them doing whatever they want.
I used to play with just one sim, but now i try to tiptoe out of my comfort zone and play with a larger family or something...although one time i totally gave up. LOL! Joaquin Le Chien got married and then his wife got pregnant and tadaa! 5 children were born (i have MCCC). I tried my best to keep everyone's needs green but i failed miserably and then i started receiving threat notes telling me how all the kids will be taken away soon etcetc. LOL! So i "backed out of the room" and began playing with JUST ONE SIM.
Building, renovating other people's buildings, decorating. And when I'm done with a project I'll load it and test it out for the functionality of the house. Then I grow bored and start with another build. Eventually I get tired of Sims 4 and return to S3 for some actual gameplay - although that gets boring fast too - but it's better than shallow S4.
However building anything in S3 is increasingly painful as the game slows to a crawl for all the memory leaks. On the other hand, you can have ceiling tiles and you can colour your door frames! I'm so cramped when decorating a house in S4 - all the interior decoration is limited by the colour of the door or window frames facing inside.
I enjoy playing the game. Currently, I have two different game saves. One is my teen celebrity in the making (yes, I restarted Erik Cantrell again) and the other is another restart of my Ancestral game. I do take time to build, which I also love, and finally created a home for my Hawkins family that gives me pleasure. (I've attempted in the past to create their farmstead but I was increasingly unhappy with the layout.) Since I've restarted this game save numerous times, sometimes a new lot gives it the shot in the arm needed. I'm very happy with my latest build: Hawkins Complex
If I realize I'm missing something vital in my game, I will pause and go into build mode to fix, and/or purchase what's missing.
I am a builder and I love it. I will make a character in CAS and play the game when there is a new expansion or game pack to test out how things function, what new aspects it adds to the game, and see if anything causes glitches so I can incorporate that in my next build.
Majority of my time on the Sims is playing the game, however, when I'm bored, I've build & enter challenges. Recently, I also play a lot with CAS. I never knew that we could adjust a lot of the Sims features....
I do spend quite a bit of time in CAS and building, but all of that time spent is only to contribute to my gameplay. I never build things or create sims that are just for show and not intended for gameplay.
I spend most of my time playing the game and doing family gameplay. I find that so fun. I suck at building but I do enjoy a bit of interior designing. I don't spend much time in CAS. I do like customizing a sim but I play on console (they had a sale where it costed like 8 pounds, okay? Without that I would never be allowed it! I also find it harder to ask for a PC game for some reason. And yes, I have to ask) so no cc which really sucks because sims look way better with it but oh well. I actually do find they gameplay fun. And I play basegame. That's all I gotta say.
Comments
I had to get my wife to help me with furnishings and color, especially color. My houses have improved 100%.
Design the houses and apartments the way I want (20%), CAS, especially redesigning NPCs (20%) and the rest of the time I play the game.
One thing that does concern me and don't know if it is part of the game or not is the toddlers. The toddlers when in the same household can interact with each other, babble and say nonsense, but if I have one toddler and go to a community lot or residential lot where another toddler is/resides, the toddler I am playing can only interact with another toddler when they are playing dolls or something. When I click on the other toddler (whilst playing as a toddler) the only option coming available is "send home" I just wonder if this is deliberate or if it's a bug? I am so sure they had other options before? (Also I don't have eco living yet, don't all the packs yet and I do not use any mods either)
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
I build or redecorate. I also make or edit my own sims unless a pre-made joins my game. If that happens, it's for story reasons, not due to lack of interest. I have a bunch of different sims interacting with each other.
I actually play the game. Whenever my PC allows me...
There is just sooooo much to do and see (if you're ready to use your imagination a bit and don't just sit and wait and demand more and more from the creators) and i've grown to love my absolutely weird and oh! so often adorably dumb sims that a lot of times i find myself just watching them doing whatever they want.
I used to play with just one sim, but now i try to tiptoe out of my comfort zone and play with a larger family or something...although one time i totally gave up. LOL! Joaquin Le Chien got married and then his wife got pregnant and tadaa! 5 children were born (i have MCCC). I tried my best to keep everyone's needs green but i failed miserably and then i started receiving threat notes telling me how all the kids will be taken away soon etcetc. LOL! So i "backed out of the room" and began playing with JUST ONE SIM.
Fun times.
However building anything in S3 is increasingly painful as the game slows to a crawl for all the memory leaks. On the other hand, you can have ceiling tiles and you can colour your door frames! I'm so cramped when decorating a house in S4 - all the interior decoration is limited by the colour of the door or window frames facing inside.
So in short: less doll play and more building.
If I realize I'm missing something vital in my game, I will pause and go into build mode to fix, and/or purchase what's missing.
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