What other game allows you to have 70 or so families in a Save, in-game with all 200 plus Sims meeting one another and being able to rotate from one family to another? That's what I am currently playing with some ease. It's made for people like me who like to create communities, not just one Sim's story, though that can be done as well. The game needs imagination to play and lots of players don't seem to have it these days.
This game is getting very complicated, tying up one thing to another and I can understand why they are proceeding so slowly in Stuff and Game Packs. What other game can do what Maxis have to do?
I'm sorry, but I don't see the relevance of your argument.
The topic isn't about what the game can do, or whether it has competition. Its about... what are we getting in respect to price tags, (while also discussing at times) vs earlier sims iterations.
Who here on this thread is questioning, or debating the game giving us the ability to build a house, or manage a family?
Yes, the game can do a lot. Fair enough. How is that relevant to the existance of My first pet stuff vs cats and dogs. And if all the content of both packs could have been added to the game, wouldn't it have been a fair argument as well to just add it all with 1 pack, rather than 2?
It's all too relevant. What's "My first pet stuff" got to do with it? I bought that too and it added useful gameplay. I don't believe anyone here knows what goes into the making of this game and the complexities of it. How do you know the expense that comes with one stuff pack or even one interaction on it? Small packs anybody can add to the base game for a bit more play and they are cheap in my opinion.
Large expansion packs only, would come in at about USA $80+ or UK £60+ pounds by my reckoning. These days I pay £70+ for a basic pair of shoes.
I've got nearly 6,000 hours of gameplay out of Sims 4 for my money. How many hours does a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 give you before you give up or get tired of it and on to the next game?
@Simburian You are implying so many things I don't know where to start.
But you know about your most relevant comment.
I already went into why the "I got so many hours out of the game for the money" argument doesn't work.
Also leave other games out of this.
How I know the expense and effort? I don't know it exactly. But the Sims team aren't the only programers in the world. Other people who know about coding and making games can actually tell you how hard or easy some things are. And in general you can always try and compare stuff with previous Sims games.
The coding part of the game.... that's what gets me about this NK pack. Plopsy, for example, (IMO) is a great idea and addition to the game. When discussing the idea of it, I will likely defend it.
But the presentation of it.... I won't be so quick to defend that. The sims team did very little to hide the fact that they copied and pasted a 6 year old script. Plopsy is just the same store script we've seen from day 1. The same scripted popup for buying seeds and shopping at ROM shops. (as I mentioned in another thread about plopsy).
I would have thought, being that plopsy was a main selling point for the pack, that the sims team would have at least given it a different color. Maybe change the dimensions of the popup window a little. Given plopsy it's own look would have gone a long way. It would have made it more seemingly.... unique, different, new.
Now, i'm not going to pretend to know about coding. I don't make video games. But over the years of playing around with web/graphic design I did learn that the white background for plopsy is simply decided by the coded color of "FFFFFF". Which the sims team could have simply changed to "000000", or something else. The dimensions of the popup are just as simple to change when using ideas such as the "table" script.
My issue with Nifty Knitting isn't what was offered in the sense of ideas, but more so with how the ideas were presented/giving to us. Its seems like the sims team just said.... "ok, we'll just copy/paste this, and copy/paste that, and presto, new pack.... get the price tag.
I don't see evidence of much effort to make this pack feel new and unique. The ideas are new yes. But the presentation of these ideas. Not everything feels brand new.
@Simburian You are implying so many things I don't know where to start.
But you know about your most relevant comment.
I already went into why the "I got so many hours out of the game for the money" argument doesn't work.
Also leave other games out of this.
I agree that other games have nothing to do with it.
I don’t agree with this: "I got so many hours out of the game for the money" argument doesn't work.
Some folks invest huge amounts of money in a hobby or on a thing they love. Games. Cars. Shoes. The hairdresser. Antiques. Luxury Beach Holidays. The Theater. Concerts. Merchandise. Vintage Dresses. Make-Up. Para-Gliding. Keeping Animals. Music. Fake Tans. Etc.
If they enjoy it, it’s worth every penny and sometimes more. For them. Because they enjoy it. Not anyone else. They do. The time they spend on that hobby and the enjoyment they get out of it, is worth more than the money they invested in it.
I‘m pretty sure that you’ve already spent way more money on something that I wouldn’t even look at. And the other way around. Unless we are the same person. Which we are not. But you feel that the money you spent on that something is worth every penny. Or even more perhaps. Meanwhile I’ve spent that same amount of money on something you may think is utterly ridiculous. And I don’t blame you. But it keeps me entertained, so I’m glad I invested in it.
There’s really no argument in what people like to spend their money on and how much they think it’s worth it for them. Unless it’s obviously hurting them (or others), but that’s a different conversation.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Again we are talking about the individual product here, not the investment you make in a hobby because that is very different and can't be compared.
But let's take a hobby for example. Let's take reading books. You might find a novel that you absolutely love and spend hundreds of hours reading it again and again and again. Just because you spent so much time on that book doesn't mean it justifies the novel costing for example 130$. It is still just a single book you are buying. If you buy a single novel for 130$ then the author will keep releasing more and more overpriced books.
I am not saying you shouldn't spend hundreds of dollars on your hobby of reading books and buying many different ones. That's your deal.
I am talking about the individual product that you are buying (ex. the price and quality of the individual book or individual pack)
And if course I am aware there are books that cost maybe even thousands of dollars but I think there should always be a noticable difference in quality (materials etc.) or you can't justify the purchase.
It's like buying Harry Potter chapter 1 for 20$ and buying Harry Potter chapter 2 for 40$. Or the other way around buying HP Chapter 1 for 20$ and then chapter 2 is suddenly divided into 2 parts and now you have to buy 2 books for 20$ just to read chapter 2. It's kinda the same thing.
@Simburian You are implying so many things I don't know where to start.
But you know about your most relevant comment.
I already went into why the "I got so many hours out of the game for the money" argument doesn't work.
Also leave other games out of this.
I agree that other games have nothing to do with it.
I don’t agree with this: "I got so many hours out of the game for the money" argument doesn't work.
Some folks invest huge amounts of money in a hobby or on a thing they love. Games. Cars. Shoes. The hairdresser. Antiques. Luxury Beach Holidays. The Theater. Concerts. Merchandise. Vintage Dresses. Make-Up. Para-Gliding. Keeping Animals. Music. Fake Tans. Etc.
If they enjoy it, it’s worth every penny and sometimes more. For them. Because they enjoy it. Not anyone else. They do. The time they spend on that hobby and the enjoyment they get out of it, is worth more than the money they invested in it.
I‘m pretty sure that you’ve already spent way more money on something that I wouldn’t even look at. And the other way around. Unless we are the same person. Which we are not. But you feel that the money you spent on that something is worth every penny. Or even more perhaps. Meanwhile I’ve spent that same amount of money on something you may think is utterly ridiculous. And I don’t blame you. But it keeps me entertained, so I’m glad I invested in it.
There’s really no argument in what people like to spend their money on and how much they think it’s worth it for them. Unless it’s obviously hurting them (or others), but that’s a different conversation.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Again we are talking about the individual product here, not the investment you make in a hobby because that is very different and can't be compared.
But let's take a hobby for example. Let's take reading books. You might find a novel that you absolutely love and spend hundreds of hours reading it again and again and again. Just because you spent so much time on that book doesn't mean it justifies the novel costing for example 130$. It is still just a single book you are buying. If you buy a single novel for 130$ then the author will keep releasing more and more overpriced books.
I am not saying you shouldn't spend hundreds of dollars on your hobby of reading books and buying many different ones. That's your deal.
I am talking about the individual product that you are buying (ex. the price and quality of the individual book or individual pack)
And if course I am aware there are books that cost maybe even thousands of dollars but I think there should always be a noticable difference in quality (materials etc.) or you can't justify the purchase.
It's like buying Harry Potter chapter 1 for 20$ and buying Harry Potter chapter 2 for 40$. Or the other way around buying HP Chapter 1 for 20$ and then chapter 2 is suddenly divided into 2 parts and now you have to buy 2 books for 20$ just to read chapter 2. It's kinda the same thing.
Okay, now here's the thing. I personally find it hard to compare books to PC/Console games. Because there are often many
different publications of one book. The price of the book 'object' varies depending on the quality, size, print, whether it's
illustrated or not, hardcover, paperback, e-book, abridged, unabridged etc. Many different prices for one story.
With a game, you can buy the basic version or the delux version on either pc or console. One standard price. Delux being a
bit more expensive because it includes say, a Tiki bar. That's it. Very little choice.
I have spent a considerable amount of money on books. How did you know?
Let's try and compare a book novel series to DLC, but because making choices about content is subjective I will do it from my own POV.
I also spoiler coded it. Somehow it turned into an essay again and I don't want folks having to constantly scroll through my sh.ite.
I'm the kind of person who will look for a specific genre, depending on my mood, but I rarely read the Blurb on the back of the
book. I literally judge a book by it's cover and by reading the first page, because I hate spoilers. If I like the way it starts and the writing seems good, I will consider buying it. It's taking a risk. When I don't know anything about the novel, I've made the rule for myself that I will never spend over 20 Euros on a large hardcover or paperback and no more than 10 when it's a small paperback or in rare cases, a kindle version. Because, let's be realistic, these are today's standard prices of a book. 130 Euro? what kind of book is that? But wait...
The quality of the book object itself plays a huge role for me, it's a piece of art, maybe not to others, although I will always go for the better deal if there doesn't seem much difference in quality.
Part II is released.
If I didn't like the book, well, tough luck. I'll leave P2 on the shelves. If I loved P1, I'm quicker to invest more money on the
next release. This time I'll go out of my way to find a nice publication, because stuff needs to look good on my shelf. But wait, like you said,Part Two is split into two parts. Not only that, it's published as two different books and each book is much smaller than the first book, but they're both the same price as P1.
Do I now feel that the price is justified enough to get two pretty (thin) hardcovers for my shelf? Will I wait for a sale, or, if I'm very eager
to read the story, can I do with a paperback or e-book version because I don't want or can't spend that money right now? I've avoided every spoiler so I have no clue how the story will unfold. But at least I have a plethora of choices so I can make my decision based on that.
Say I'll buy the cheaper e-book version because I'm super broke but I want to read. And I find the story is really good. Well I'm the kind of nerd who will probably buy the best quality hardcover version out there at full price afterwards, because I just need it to look good on my shelf. Is there a really really cool 130 Euro version of that book that just takes my breath away? I will probably spend that money if the book had
the ability to fly. Or if it simply looks smashing on my shelf. Yes. I'm that kind of nerd.
With Game DLC....well, I will have to look at the content. Do some research. Is the full price justified? 10,20 & 40 Euro are
standard prices for 3 different tiers of DLC. That's ok with me.
But Content and content is two. I can find the stuff shown in a life stream really interesting. So I may buy it at full price (or wait for a sale).
Personally I can only tell if the price was worth the investment when I look at how much enjoyment I actually got out of that DLC. Like the book. Was it good in the end? Was it worth 10, 20, 40 Euros? For me it's an afterward thought.
I paid 40 euros for Get Famous. Hardly use most of the content. I think the celebrity system is very good. But I never use it. I usually get rid of all the celebrities and I can't stand Judith Ward. Poor woman. It's my least favorite pack.
I paid 20 for Jungle Adventure, but I enjoy digging in the dirt a lot more than being a celebrity. Yes, it probably says more about
me than the game, but that's just the thing. I might as well have spent 55 Euros on Jungle Adventures and 5 on Get Famous. Luckily It balances itself out. But that's how I feel about it. Maybe someone else doesn't and will call me dense. Digging in the dirt? Fool.
Of course I would be happier to pay 40 Euros on Jungle Adventure if it contained proper Quests and brain teasers like in TS3 WA.
But I don't have an archaeology and culture skill or a Jungle in WA. And I really like that.
Should quests and brain teasers have been part of the JA Gamepack? Yes! But hey, I still find myself enjoying the content of that pack regardless, even after many years. So after all that, am I happy I got it for the price I paid. Yes.
Reading all these dense opinions defending this pack is a good laugh. They are totally missing the point that the ones who see what this game is becoming are trying to make .
Edited to not fancy anyone’s feelings
I commonly disagree with opinions on this site (and others), and i'm not shy when it comes to confrontation. But at least I can say that I still treat people with respect. I can't say the same for you. Name calling ("brain dead"), and character labeling (being of... dense opinions) are attitudes I can't defend.
People, regardless of their opinions, are not "brain dead". Nor are their opinions "dense". Having you suggest otherwise, says more about you, than the people you are insulting.
Try creating a post explaining your issue with the comments..... what don't you agree with? Why do you think they are wrong? What exactly is your problem? Give people a chance to understand your side of the story, and a chance to explain better their side.
Its called a conversation (debate).
1+ You’re right. Sometimes the truth hurts and it’s better to sugar coat everything . Also, respect is earned not given . People have the right to their opinions & at the end of the day this is the internet. You’re gonna have people disagree & call it out how it is. I’m not going to continue going back & forth with people who are have difficulties realizing the truth . But thanks for your thoughts. I will sleep better at night now
Reading all these dense opinions defending this pack is a good laugh. They are totally missing the point that the ones who see what this game is becoming are trying to make .
Edited to not fancy anyone’s feelings
I commonly disagree with opinions on this site (and others), and i'm not shy when it comes to confrontation. But at least I can say that I still treat people with respect. I can't say the same for you. Name calling ("brain dead"), and character labeling (being of... dense opinions) are attitudes I can't defend.
People, regardless of their opinions, are not "brain dead". Nor are their opinions "dense". Having you suggest otherwise, says more about you, than the people you are insulting.
Try creating a post explaining your issue with the comments..... what don't you agree with? Why do you think they are wrong? What exactly is your problem? Give people a chance to understand your side of the story, and a chance to explain better their side.
Its called a conversation (debate).
1+ You’re right. Sometimes the truth hurts and it’s better to sugar coat everything . Also, respect is earned not given . People have the right to their opinions & at the end of the day this is the internet. You’re gonna have people disagree & call it out how it is. I’m not going to continue going back & forth with people who are have difficulties realizing the truth . But thanks for your thoughts. I will sleep better at night now
I disagree that respect needs to be earned. I believe it should be given to everyone and that everyone deserves to be respected.
They may be able to lose respect later, calling people braindead or dense would be a good way to lose that respect, but to start with everyone should be given it and having a different opinion or enjoying something many dislike would not in the slightest be a reason to lose respect for someone. I only lose respect for people who bully, name call, troll or act in another disrepectful manner themselves.
It's obvious some have difficulty forming an articulate argument thus the need to resort to name calling and denigration. Best to just ignore, report if necessary, and move on.
It's obvious some have difficulty forming an articulate argument thus the need to resort to name calling and denigration. Best to just ignore, report if necessary, and move on.
I enjoyed his review for this pack, I only had 30 minutes to play and I spent it in CAS wondering where half of the clothes we were promised were.
I’ll likely use some of the build buy stuff and clutter items but honestly I expected more from this pack, I know we had to whittle down a lot in voting but I think they took out some of the items after that.
I’m glad there is a metal station and plopsy, and I can’t wait to have the sims of evergreen harbor to make some cute clothes/toys/clutter. I also LOVE the fact kids are involved, they can knit as well.
But I agree with the review. He’s tired and I am to, I still like playing Sims 4 in bursts but I’m also looking forward to Sims 5, I hope it comes out years from now so there is a chance it has that spark from Sims 1 Sims 2 and 3. I’ll also wait patiently for the modders who make the mods I need for my game to update their mods so I can play this game.
(But I also hope my ten dollars goes into making an amazing Sims 5 base game).
I couldn't finish this. His tone is snotty and condescending from the get-go, and I am disinclined to fight through his lousy attitude to sift out any actually useful information.
Is he always like this? Must be a lot of fun at parties.
With TS3 not really. Great example being Seasons expansion pack.
I couldn't finish this. His tone is snotty and condescending from the get-go, and I am disinclined to fight through his lousy attitude to sift out any actually useful information.
Is he always like this? Must be a lot of fun at parties.
Dude chill....No need to be a 🌺🌺🌺🌺. LGR is respected in the community, his opinion matters to a lot of people. He's tired like many others...he probably doesn't wanna do these reviews, but when you have MANY people who COUNT on you to do reviews you gotta do what you gotta do! He's real plain a simple and dishes it like it is and is not afraid to speak his mind...
Just don't watch him if you aren't a fan that simple bud.
You don't have to take it personally just because somebody doesn't like the youtuber that we do.
agreed.
I seen a lot of review he did with both TS3/TS4
I just like others more
I couldn't finish this. His tone is snotty and condescending from the get-go, and I am disinclined to fight through his lousy attitude to sift out any actually useful information.
Is he always like this? Must be a lot of fun at parties.
I agree. His earlier reviews of the Sims 4 packs were less cringe-y. Either he's jumping on the bandwagon or others are jumping on with him in just crapping on everything this franchise puts out. Either way, I am tired of him and others like him. If you don't like the game, don't play it. Do you have to take the enjoyment out of everyone who does?
I couldn't finish this. His tone is snotty and condescending from the get-go, and I am disinclined to fight through his lousy attitude to sift out any actually useful information.
Is he always like this? Must be a lot of fun at parties.
I agree. His earlier reviews of the Sims 4 packs were less cringe-y. Either he's jumping on the bandwagon or others are jumping on with him in just crapping on everything this franchise puts out. Either way, I am tired of him and others like him. If you don't like the game, don't play it. Do you have to take the enjoyment out of everyone who does?
Don't like him don't watch him. Let others enjoy him.
I couldn't finish this. His tone is snotty and condescending from the get-go, and I am disinclined to fight through his lousy attitude to sift out any actually useful information.
Is he always like this? Must be a lot of fun at parties.
I agree. His earlier reviews of the Sims 4 packs were less cringe-y. Either he's jumping on the bandwagon or others are jumping on with him in just crapping on everything this franchise puts out. Either way, I am tired of him and others like him. If you don't like the game, don't play it. Do you have to take the enjoyment out of everyone who does?
Don't like him don't watch him. Let others enjoy him.
Are you actually him or what? Why are you so affronted that people point out his negativity?
I couldn't finish this. His tone is snotty and condescending from the get-go, and I am disinclined to fight through his lousy attitude to sift out any actually useful information.
Is he always like this? Must be a lot of fun at parties.
I agree. His earlier reviews of the Sims 4 packs were less cringe-y. Either he's jumping on the bandwagon or others are jumping on with him in just crapping on everything this franchise puts out. Either way, I am tired of him and others like him. If you don't like the game, don't play it. Do you have to take the enjoyment out of everyone who does?
Don't like him don't watch him. Let others enjoy him.
Are you actually him or what? Why are you so affronted that people point out his negativity?
No , I am just a fan..
He's a real good genuine guy. He doesn't bull **** and tells it like it is.
Since you tell us to "don't like the game don't play it" I'm just telling you the same logic...don't like him , don't watch him?
Look I agree that TS3 packs were great content wise. No argument there. On the downside, I never thought they integrated well with each other. And back then, very few people could play all the packs they owned at once.
And packs now DO? You have got to be kidding me. You can't even attend the Geekcon festival most of the time because the electronics break when it rains. Packs stopped integrating well with each other after The Sims 2. It was true for The Sims 3 and it's true for The Sims 4.
I never had any issues playing with every pack at the same time. Not back then, not now. It's not the game's fault if a lot of people insist on playing it on a potato PC.
you can possibly accuse 4 of (bugs, overpriced content, locking away items) has been there since TS2 ended.
All of them, even TS2 were (and still are) buggy games. I remember when you'd call a repair technician in TS2 and 100 of them would be spawned making the game crash. Not to mention CORRUPTION, a major issue TS2 still has to this day. It was never fixed. You need to use mods to keeps your neighborhoods from corrupting. The Sims 2 was the first game to feature microtransactions and an online Store. It also locked away gameplay items (baby items). As regards overpriced content, that's purely subjective. But TS4 is the worst offender in this regard, especially when you compare what EPs for 2 and 3 added to the game vs EPs in TS4.
If anything, TS3 and TS4 make me wonder if simulation games with this level of free choice and this many interconnected content systems can ever be completely bug free unless everything is there from the beginning.
No, it can't. But what EA could was to keep supporting those games until all major issues are fixed. They always abandon the previous game when a new one is released, and they leave them in a bad state.
I love LGR reviews he is not always like that. It is just disappointing that they make these packs and the pack had nothing there is really is nothing for build and buy and was smaller than my first pet pack. And he has the right to voice his options. Grimcookies said the same thing that it was disappointing. I understand it was a community voted pack but still. The truth is the truth i bought the pack and i think the same but i wanted the new skill for the game and the rocking chairs are all the same chairs in the game just some with arms and some with not. He is honest with everything he reviews and is not mean about anything just a honest guy. That's what i like about him.
LGR is really the only reviewer whose opinion I think highly of because he's actually critical of the game. And this is despite I disagree with him about supernatural elements (he hates "Supernatural" from TS3, whereas it's my most favorite pack because I utterly love mythical/fantasy creatures).
I don't believe this is accurate. He didn't "hate" the Supernatural pack from TS3 as he said that despite his disinterest in Supernatural content, it was a well-made pack for those who did want it. A pack he was definitely not happy with was this pack or Laundry Day, Katy Perry Sweet Treats, etc because he's not sure why anyone would want those packs since they either just make the game more tedious, offer next to nothing, or are uninspired.
Onto other matters, I'm somewhat confused by the reaction to this pack. Some individuals, both in the comments section of the review and in the discussion here state they were expecting a pack similar to that of Freetime in the Sims 2. However, that pack is an expansion (a TS2 expansion, which while I admit I've never played TS2, I'll guess that TS2 expansions had more content than even TS4 expansions, somebody correct me if I'm wrong) while this was announced as a stuff pack. Stuff packs in the past never offered much content, (I do acknowledge that this pack seems to have less content than the average stuff pack and heavily criticize it on that) so when the Sims team announced a stuff pack that the community could vote for, I lost interest quickly since it only reminded me of Laundry Day.
I don't defend the pack, it really doesn't seem worth it to me, especially for 10 dollars since it boils down to "10 bucks and your Sims can knit items and sell them or wear them", but it's not as if we were going to get multiple hobbies/skills related to Arts and Crafts since that strikes me as either a GP theme or something alongside an expansion. However, this does really suck for people (including myself) who wanted/were open to an Freetime style pack because now that Nifty Knitting exists, we'll likely not get such a pack.
However, this does really suck for people (including myself) who wanted/were open to an Freetime style pack because now that Nifty Knitting exists, we'll likely not get such a pack.
I think that’s where my biggest problem resides regarding this pack. It’s setting the precedent for every other hobby style activity to have a stuff pack of its own, when previously they’ve been included in much larger packs. It’s similar to how every vacation spot and every occult has to have its own game pack. The consistent dividing up of content is becoming harder to ignore, especially given the prices. It’s mind boggling to think that this game might very soon cross the $1000 threshold... *sighs*
When I first saw the review and he said "Stuff pack number 137 for the sims 4" I thought to myself.. Geezz how many do we have...? both sims 2 and sims 3 had 9 stuff packs (I guess) Sims 4 have seventeen stuff packs. 17. This shows a lot. They can easily put more content in EP or GP. 17!!! And the game is not finished yet... SMH
“Instead of putting players in the role of Luke Skywalker, or Frodo Baggins, I'd rather put them in the role of George Lucas.” - Will Wright.
I’m with LGR that this game will not improve much more in the future to come. I like his honesty and I can see his sadness in the video, and that means he cares about The Sims, but not about TS4.
I can understand that there’s a huge number of players with different playstyles and different opinions. Not everybody will like certain packs and that is fine and logical. I do complain about the quality of these packs and the whole game itself. It started wrongly with too many restrictions for a sandbox game and the lack of too many features.
TS4 has no open world, no Create a Style and no world customization which make a huge impact on the whole game. The Open World feature is not just that you don’t have loading screens, it means that the whole world, all the Sims in it progress with you in every single second of gameplay. All actions have consequences, some good and some bad.
Talking about consequences, you just have to play TS3 for a few minutes to realise that people fight on the street, you can get insulted, relationships are harder to achieve, money is way much harder to get, you can get robbed, you can get angry or sad… Lots of things could happen to you in TS3, while in the TS4 everything is perfect and nothing out of the ordinary happens. TS4 is a game where there is no challenge for anything at all, killing a sim is almost impossible. In the TS3 when you get out of your home you really don’t know what will happen, while in the TS4 you already know: nothing.
Animations are way too childish, and sometimes way too feminine. When you play a couple, sometimes the responses of the man to a romantic interaction are too feminine and that breaks my immersion. If my Sim is brave and tough why should he behave like a child or a woman?
Some animations happen so frequently that they are not something funny anymore. The murphy bed breaks too often, lightning breaks things in the yard too often, and a huge list of things that should be funny when they happen once in a while.
Just play the TS3 a bit to see tons and tons of little features that adds a lot of depth: throwing food gives you a negative moodlet of “wasting food”, clocks show the real time, you can go to the grocery to buy food, you can make your bed… It’s an endless list of little things that don’t have anything to do with more and more content, all these are already in the base game.
Emotions take over any trait that your Sim has, so all focused Sims behaves exactly the same no matter what traits he or she has. With the emotion system traits are almost useless, meaning there are no unique personalities. All the sims behave the same way. Plain game, plain personalities.
The Lifetime rewards system of TS3 is way much better than in TS4. I like the idea of having a big goal to achieve that will be hard to get. This goal will define his personality, aspirations, career and job. Having a happy Sim will increase his Lifetime Happiness score, even when sleeping: having a good and comfortable bed, next to cosy fireplace in a room well decorated and with good views affects the happiness of the sim and his Lifetime Happiness score. In TS4 you can have multiple lifetime goals, some of them you can’t achieve unless you change for job… it doesn’t make sense.
Last EP is a good example of what a game company should never ever do. How is it possible that the main features of your game don’t work? I’m not talking about some minor bugs, no, I’m talking about the main features of the game: eco footprint always changes to neutral no matter what you do, some NAPs can ruin your game… This means that they don’t test the game. I repeat: THESE ARE MAIN FEATURES that we all discovered just by playing the game a few hours.
EPs give separate features that can only be played in the world of the EP. Only the new world in Eco Lifestyle can show all the things of the pack while the other worlds only show a cough and some clouds in the distance. Nothing more. You can only swim in the ocean in Sulany. Really? You can only go hiking/having a walk in the forest. Really? Rumour says that maybe there could be a winter activities pack. I’m sure it will come with a new world, probably a one with mountains but many of the new activities will be only playable in that world… it would probably be a new disappointment.
Apartments are another disappointment. Way too many restrictions. Would it be too difficult to let us redistribute the space of the floor? I can accept that we can’t change the exterior of the building (that’s realistic) but forcing us live in these apartments with almost no customization is not right. There is a nice apartment in the Spice Market district that has a balcony but the “Needs TLC” trait. Even if you change the trait with mods and remove all the items related to this trait it still has odd smells, bugs, etc. Really? The only apartment in the neighbourhood with balcony and it is useless? Some other apartments have very tall walls. The Spire Apartments is one of my favourite because it has good views, a balcony and plenty of space, but the space feels like a narrow tube with all these tall walls. If you place more than three rooms in a floor and don’t play with walls down you have to play from above to see what your sim is doing. Wrong choice. Could we change the height of the whole apartment floor? Apart from that, we cannot create our own apartments. Is it too difficult to add a shell so we can place it anywhere and have our own apartment?
Some worlds are ridiculously small. I don’t like to play a world knowing I only have one neighbour and the rest is just a decoration. Besides, If I’m playing a DJ who is single and loves the big city: why should he/she go to the desert to just read a book? Or go to the mountains to have a coffee? It breaks my immersion. I need a world with plenty of lots to have a library, a gym, a bar, a disco, … all the things my sim will need in that world. Developers say that big worlds affect the performance. I really don’t know why because only the neighbourhood you’re in is loaded, not the entire world, but I’m not an expert on The Sims code, so it must be true. What if we could disable the worlds we don’t use without disabling the whole pack? That would solve the performance issue and we could have bigger worlds.
I also don’t like that EA is more focused on releasing more content than fixing the huge amount of bugs we’re still experiencing. Some people say that there are separate teams working on different things… It don’t find it ethically right to have a certain amount of developers working on new content knowing that many people’s game is ruined because of the previous EP. I payed 40€ for a pack that I cannot play because of the bugs and I see EA excited about releasing a new pack… I don’t find it ethically right.
This game has many flaws in the base game and that is why it will not improve much more. EA instead of fixing these things like the emotion system, apartments, swimmable oceans, etc., it is just focused on releasing more swallow content of poor quality that you can only play in a certain world, in a certain way, with lots of restrictions and poor customization. This game is not a sandbox anymore and above all, it is not a life simulator. It’s a beautiful empty shell.
Having said that, I want to be constructive, so I would suggest what I think could make the game a bit better. I know there are some features that will not be seen in TS4, so I'll try to be realistic (I'm not asking for CAW or Open World):
Personalities:
- Sim traits should be at least 5.
- Emotions shouldn't interfere with the Sims traits and should be something secondary. The Sim Traits should define a Sim behaviour.
- When something really good or bad happens to a sim, that feeling should taker over the rest. For example, if your sim's mother/father dies, the sadness should take over whatever other emotions the sim has and should last longer. That's realistic. You have to struggle to make your sim recover as soon as you can so that he/she can carry on with his/her life.
- Starsign, favourite food/colour features. This simple little things add more personality to your sim. His/her reations to her/his favourite food, ask others about their the starsign....
- Wants/Fears. This was great in TS2. I miss this so much. Based on the Sims traits (not emotions) you can have different wants/fears...
Reduce the occurrences of certain animations like the break of the murphy bed, lightning breaking objects. When these actions happens too often it is annoying and not funny.
Game Difficulty: Make some Game Options available to increase the game difficulty by choice:
- raising bills / rent
- reduce the money sims get from work and make it harder to get a raise.
- raising a skill should be much harder
- A sim should be able to die more easily if you neglect him/her. If you don't care for your sim, meet the consequences: death.
Worlds:
- Have the option to disable the worlds you don't play. In TS3 in the laucher application we had the option to enable/disable certain packs, so I guess it should done with worlds in TS4. You could still use the objects and gameplay, but not the world. This would allow you to release bigger worlds.
- Bigger worlds. I love those big worlds like Windenburg or San Myshuno and try to explore every single corner they have to offer. Small worlds makes me claustrophobic and they are not realistic.
- Don't force us to certain lots in Worlds like the Chalet Gardens in Windenburg... it's space wasted suitable for a park or any other thing we want in our world. We should decide what we want.
- Please, do something about lot types. There is not enough space in worlds to have residential and community lots. Could you make possible to join some features in one type of lot? If you place some objects in the lot NPCs should go to work on them: barista machine, Chef/waiter/host station, etc.). The possibility of different type of lots are endless: a cafe/arcade, a pool/restaurant/lounge, ....
- Why can't we have a rental lot in Sulany? I would love to go on vacation to Sulany, or place a beach in the island in Windenburg...
Apartments:
- Wall height should be customizable. Most of the windows of the apartments have replicas suitable for different heights, so it should't be a problem.
- We should be able to redistribute the space of one entire floor of apartments. It should meet the current restrictions of a mail box, a trash can and an elevator... Some apartments are huge and could hold more apartments.
- please, don't force us to certain lot traits. "Need TLC" should be optional and the objects of this trait should be in the buy catalog.
- If my apartment does not have the "Lively neighbours" trait, why my neighbours are always making noises? It's fun sometimes but not every single night.
Depth: This is going to be tough because TS4 lacks deeply of this. Actions and Consequences.
- when you design something new, please think about replayability. Strangerville was fun the first hour... then it's completely forgettable. The world is tiny and we already have a much better desert world: Oasis Springs. I don't remove Strangerville just because of the military career.
- design things having in mind what has been released before and how it could affect other features. When I heard about Realm of Magic I started thinking about a Harry Potter world with witches and wizards, magical bars.... when I saw the world I felt really disappointed. Nothing could be done there.
- Please, don't make some features only available to certain worlds and try to go back and find a way to adapt this feature to other worlds. For example: I love Windenburg and the island has beautiful "beaches" but sims cannot swim or collect seashells... Why my sim can't have a walk in San Myshuno but he/she can in Granite Falls?
- we all love those little details that make the game more realistic and great: having a walk hand by hand with your boy/girlfriend, a grocery, burglars, graveyards, cuddle on bed, slowdance, clocks showing the real time, make your bed, look out through the window, the "fully-rested" moodlet when you sleep and fill the Energy bar...
- smarter sims and the improvement of certain situations. When my family get together at dinner around the table, the just get up, greet each other, one sits on the piano, the other on couch, the other in a chair in the kitchen... that's not fun, they are having dinner and should be seated. The same happens in restaurants. The stand-up action while watching a movie is terrible, at the middle of the movie there's not a single soul seated.
- I miss going out and find awkward situations: couples arguing, people fighting, angry sims yelling at me, a dog barking at me. I need more things happening, some good, some bad. If my sim hurt him/herself at the gym, he/she shouldn't be able to run, walk or do some activities for sometime until he/she recovers. But please, don't make that happen ALL THE TIME.
- Story progression of some kind. I need to feel that everything is changing around me: couples marry, have babies, divorce, people die, people rent the apartment next door to mine... I need to get rid of this... "static" feeling while I'm playing.
Resuming:
- please, do not force us to play in a certain way or in a certain world, fixed lot traits, fixed lot types. There are too many restrictions everywhere. Everything is possible if you check the requirements for certain changes, it just takes a bit more programming. If modders can, YOU CAN.
- We need more things happening around and some of them bad, we should play not knowing what will happen next. Things should change around us, surprise us. The game needs Story Progression. The game should be more challenging and we should take care of our sims.
- Unique sims. Please, this is a must. All sims behave exactly the same. Please, emotions/traits should be reworked.
I really hope you do. I love The Sims, but sadly not TS4.
Thanks anyway.
Reading all these dense opinions defending this pack is a good laugh. They are totally missing the point that the ones who see what this game is becoming are trying to make .
Edited to not fancy anyone’s feelings
I commonly disagree with opinions on this site (and others), and i'm not shy when it comes to confrontation. But at least I can say that I still treat people with respect. I can't say the same for you. Name calling ("brain dead"), and character labeling (being of... dense opinions) are attitudes I can't defend.
People, regardless of their opinions, are not "brain dead". Nor are their opinions "dense". Having you suggest otherwise, says more about you, than the people you are insulting.
Try creating a post explaining your issue with the comments..... what don't you agree with? Why do you think they are wrong? What exactly is your problem? Give people a chance to understand your side of the story, and a chance to explain better their side.
Its called a conversation (debate).
1+ You’re right. Sometimes the truth hurts and it’s better to sugar coat everything . Also, respect is earned not given . People have the right to their opinions & at the end of the day this is the internet. You’re gonna have people disagree & call it out how it is. I’m not going to continue going back & forth with people who are have difficulties realizing the truth . But thanks for your thoughts. I will sleep better at night now
I disagree that respect needs to be earned. I believe it should be given to everyone and that everyone deserves to be respected.
They may be able to lose respect later, calling people braindead or dense would be a good way to lose that respect, but to start with everyone should be given it and having a different opinion or enjoying something many dislike would not in the slightest be a reason to lose respect for someone. I only lose respect for people who bully, name call, troll or act in another disrepectful manner themselves.
It seems you don't realize what the word respect means.
Respect: a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
This is earned not give by definition.
What you are describing is courtesy.
Courtesy: the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behavior toward others.
This should be given not earned.
I can be courteous to you without having respect for your opinions or position on a subject.
Now on to the response.
I happen to agree with LGR 100% on this review.
That said I didn't come to my decision not to by the SP just on his say so.
In fact I have not bought a EP/GP/SP for full price since Strangerville (P.S. Roosterteeth should sue for that one)
And have not bought a SP since "My first pet".
The reason for this is I refuse to open my wallet and give EA money for ripping us off.
This has been an ongoing theme with the Sims 4 of taking Sims 3 EP cutting out up to 70% of their content and selling them as as full EP with 30% of the Sims 3 content then selling the remaining content as SP or just leaving it out altogether.
This SP is more of the same "Here's the first of many watered-down hobby SP that could have been in a larger EP but we can make more money on them if we split them up".
So this one will be on the if it get down to 50%+ off I may buy it list.
Small caveat to my last statement: if you really enjoy a game then I think that most additions just end up useful to you one way or another 🤷🏻♀️ so there's that to consider as well. I understand that better than the people who somehow do own everything for TS4 yet constantly complain about how bad it is. I honestly understand that a lot less. I got Watch Dogs 2 for free, it's boring as hell. Haven't opened it since and would never buy dlc for it xD
yes this lgr make money on this though so I can understand that
@Simburian You are implying so many things I don't know where to start.
But you know about your most relevant comment.
I already went into why the "I got so many hours out of the game for the money" argument doesn't work.
Also leave other games out of this.
I agree that other games have nothing to do with it.
I don’t agree with this: "I got so many hours out of the game for the money" argument doesn't work.
Some folks invest huge amounts of money in a hobby or on a thing they love. Games. Cars. Shoes. The hairdresser. Antiques. Luxury Beach Holidays. The Theater. Concerts. Merchandise. Vintage Dresses. Make-Up. Para-Gliding. Keeping Animals. Music. Fake Tans. Etc.
If they enjoy it, it’s worth every penny and sometimes more. For them. Because they enjoy it. Not anyone else. They do. The time they spend on that hobby and the enjoyment they get out of it, is worth more than the money they invested in it.
I‘m pretty sure that you’ve already spent way more money on something that I wouldn’t even look at. And the other way around. Unless we are the same person. Which we are not. But you feel that the money you spent on that something is worth every penny. Or even more perhaps. Meanwhile I’ve spent that same amount of money on something you may think is utterly ridiculous. And I don’t blame you. But it keeps me entertained, so I’m glad I invested in it.
There’s really no argument in what people like to spend their money on and how much they think it’s worth it for them. Unless it’s obviously hurting them (or others), but that’s a different conversation.
Reading all these dense opinions defending this pack is a good laugh. They are totally missing the point that the ones who see what this game is becoming are trying to make .
Edited to not fancy anyone’s feelings
I commonly disagree with opinions on this site (and others), and i'm not shy when it comes to confrontation. But at least I can say that I still treat people with respect. I can't say the same for you. Name calling ("brain dead"), and character labeling (being of... dense opinions) are attitudes I can't defend.
People, regardless of their opinions, are not "brain dead". Nor are their opinions "dense". Having you suggest otherwise, says more about you, than the people you are insulting.
Try creating a post explaining your issue with the comments..... what don't you agree with? Why do you think they are wrong? What exactly is your problem? Give people a chance to understand your side of the story, and a chance to explain better their side.
Its called a conversation (debate).
1+ You’re right. Sometimes the truth hurts and it’s better to sugar coat everything . Also, respect is earned not given . People have the right to their opinions & at the end of the day this is the internet. You’re gonna have people disagree & call it out how it is. I’m not going to continue going back & forth with people who are have difficulties realizing the truth . But thanks for your thoughts. I will sleep better at night now
I disagree that respect needs to be earned. I believe it should be given to everyone and that everyone deserves to be respected.
They may be able to lose respect later, calling people braindead or dense would be a good way to lose that respect, but to start with everyone should be given it and having a different opinion or enjoying something many dislike would not in the slightest be a reason to lose respect for someone. I only lose respect for people who bully, name call, troll or act in another disrepectful manner themselves.
It seems you don't realize what the word respect means.
Respect: a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
This is earned not give by definition.
What you are describing is courtesy.
Courtesy: the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behavior toward others.
This should be given not earned.
I can be courteous to you without having respect for your opinions or position on a subject.
.
Well, aren't you a practitioner of technicality? Ok, fair enough. Lets play that game.
You do know that a dictionary is nothing more than a collection of generally accepted terms.... right? And NOT a bible of what is absolutely correct under that law?
"Respect" .... is an emotional activity.... such as love, compassion, hate, or contempt..... which may be freely given, or freely expected.
I haven't yet come across a book, including dictionaries you are citing, that suggest that "respect must be "earned", or in any way paid for.
I don't agree with your claim that "my" respect must be earned before I offer it to other people.
If you are someone who feels that "your" respect must be earned before being offered... fair enough. That's your choice. But don't explain your personal choice as being born from a generally accepted norm of social economic consensus.
Comments
The coding part of the game.... that's what gets me about this NK pack. Plopsy, for example, (IMO) is a great idea and addition to the game. When discussing the idea of it, I will likely defend it.
But the presentation of it.... I won't be so quick to defend that. The sims team did very little to hide the fact that they copied and pasted a 6 year old script. Plopsy is just the same store script we've seen from day 1. The same scripted popup for buying seeds and shopping at ROM shops. (as I mentioned in another thread about plopsy).
I would have thought, being that plopsy was a main selling point for the pack, that the sims team would have at least given it a different color. Maybe change the dimensions of the popup window a little. Given plopsy it's own look would have gone a long way. It would have made it more seemingly.... unique, different, new.
Now, i'm not going to pretend to know about coding. I don't make video games. But over the years of playing around with web/graphic design I did learn that the white background for plopsy is simply decided by the coded color of "FFFFFF". Which the sims team could have simply changed to "000000", or something else. The dimensions of the popup are just as simple to change when using ideas such as the "table" script.
<table width="100%" border="1">
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td rowspan="2"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
My issue with Nifty Knitting isn't what was offered in the sense of ideas, but more so with how the ideas were presented/giving to us. Its seems like the sims team just said.... "ok, we'll just copy/paste this, and copy/paste that, and presto, new pack.... get the price tag.
I don't see evidence of much effort to make this pack feel new and unique. The ideas are new yes. But the presentation of these ideas. Not everything feels brand new.
@CAPTAIN_NXR7 Again we are talking about the individual product here, not the investment you make in a hobby because that is very different and can't be compared.
But let's take a hobby for example. Let's take reading books. You might find a novel that you absolutely love and spend hundreds of hours reading it again and again and again. Just because you spent so much time on that book doesn't mean it justifies the novel costing for example 130$. It is still just a single book you are buying. If you buy a single novel for 130$ then the author will keep releasing more and more overpriced books.
I am not saying you shouldn't spend hundreds of dollars on your hobby of reading books and buying many different ones. That's your deal.
I am talking about the individual product that you are buying (ex. the price and quality of the individual book or individual pack)
And if course I am aware there are books that cost maybe even thousands of dollars but I think there should always be a noticable difference in quality (materials etc.) or you can't justify the purchase.
It's like buying Harry Potter chapter 1 for 20$ and buying Harry Potter chapter 2 for 40$. Or the other way around buying HP Chapter 1 for 20$ and then chapter 2 is suddenly divided into 2 parts and now you have to buy 2 books for 20$ just to read chapter 2. It's kinda the same thing.
Okay, now here's the thing. I personally find it hard to compare books to PC/Console games. Because there are often many
different publications of one book. The price of the book 'object' varies depending on the quality, size, print, whether it's
illustrated or not, hardcover, paperback, e-book, abridged, unabridged etc. Many different prices for one story.
With a game, you can buy the basic version or the delux version on either pc or console. One standard price. Delux being a
bit more expensive because it includes say, a Tiki bar. That's it. Very little choice.
I have spent a considerable amount of money on books. How did you know?
Let's try and compare a book novel series to DLC, but because making choices about content is subjective I will do it from my own POV.
I also spoiler coded it. Somehow it turned into an essay again and I don't want folks having to constantly scroll through my sh.ite.
book. I literally judge a book by it's cover and by reading the first page, because I hate spoilers. If I like the way it starts and the writing seems good, I will consider buying it. It's taking a risk. When I don't know anything about the novel, I've made the rule for myself that I will never spend over 20 Euros on a large hardcover or paperback and no more than 10 when it's a small paperback or in rare cases, a kindle version. Because, let's be realistic, these are today's standard prices of a book. 130 Euro? what kind of book is that? But wait...
The quality of the book object itself plays a huge role for me, it's a piece of art, maybe not to others, although I will always go for the better deal if there doesn't seem much difference in quality.
Part II is released.
If I didn't like the book, well, tough luck. I'll leave P2 on the shelves. If I loved P1, I'm quicker to invest more money on the
next release. This time I'll go out of my way to find a nice publication, because stuff needs to look good on my shelf. But wait, like you said,Part Two is split into two parts. Not only that, it's published as two different books and each book is much smaller than the first book, but they're both the same price as P1.
Do I now feel that the price is justified enough to get two pretty (thin) hardcovers for my shelf? Will I wait for a sale, or, if I'm very eager
to read the story, can I do with a paperback or e-book version because I don't want or can't spend that money right now? I've avoided every spoiler so I have no clue how the story will unfold. But at least I have a plethora of choices so I can make my decision based on that.
Say I'll buy the cheaper e-book version because I'm super broke but I want to read. And I find the story is really good. Well I'm the kind of nerd who will probably buy the best quality hardcover version out there at full price afterwards, because I just need it to look good on my shelf. Is there a really really cool 130 Euro version of that book that just takes my breath away? I will probably spend that money if the book had
the ability to fly. Or if it simply looks smashing on my shelf. Yes. I'm that kind of nerd.
With Game DLC....well, I will have to look at the content. Do some research. Is the full price justified? 10,20 & 40 Euro are
standard prices for 3 different tiers of DLC. That's ok with me.
But Content and content is two. I can find the stuff shown in a life stream really interesting. So I may buy it at full price (or wait for a sale).
Personally I can only tell if the price was worth the investment when I look at how much enjoyment I actually got out of that DLC. Like the book. Was it good in the end? Was it worth 10, 20, 40 Euros? For me it's an afterward thought.
I paid 40 euros for Get Famous. Hardly use most of the content. I think the celebrity system is very good. But I never use it. I usually get rid of all the celebrities and I can't stand Judith Ward. Poor woman. It's my least favorite pack.
I paid 20 for Jungle Adventure, but I enjoy digging in the dirt a lot more than being a celebrity. Yes, it probably says more about
me than the game, but that's just the thing. I might as well have spent 55 Euros on Jungle Adventures and 5 on Get Famous. Luckily It balances itself out. But that's how I feel about it. Maybe someone else doesn't and will call me dense. Digging in the dirt? Fool.
Of course I would be happier to pay 40 Euros on Jungle Adventure if it contained proper Quests and brain teasers like in TS3 WA.
But I don't have an archaeology and culture skill or a Jungle in WA. And I really like that.
Should quests and brain teasers have been part of the JA Gamepack? Yes! But hey, I still find myself enjoying the content of that pack regardless, even after many years. So after all that, am I happy I got it for the price I paid. Yes.
Am I wrong or am I stupid?
1+ You’re right. Sometimes the truth hurts and it’s better to sugar coat everything . Also, respect is earned not given . People have the right to their opinions & at the end of the day this is the internet. You’re gonna have people disagree & call it out how it is. I’m not going to continue going back & forth with people who are have difficulties realizing the truth . But thanks for your thoughts. I will sleep better at night now
I disagree that respect needs to be earned. I believe it should be given to everyone and that everyone deserves to be respected.
They may be able to lose respect later, calling people braindead or dense would be a good way to lose that respect, but to start with everyone should be given it and having a different opinion or enjoying something many dislike would not in the slightest be a reason to lose respect for someone. I only lose respect for people who bully, name call, troll or act in another disrepectful manner themselves.
Agreed
I’ll likely use some of the build buy stuff and clutter items but honestly I expected more from this pack, I know we had to whittle down a lot in voting but I think they took out some of the items after that.
I’m glad there is a metal station and plopsy, and I can’t wait to have the sims of evergreen harbor to make some cute clothes/toys/clutter. I also LOVE the fact kids are involved, they can knit as well.
But I agree with the review. He’s tired and I am to, I still like playing Sims 4 in bursts but I’m also looking forward to Sims 5, I hope it comes out years from now so there is a chance it has that spark from Sims 1 Sims 2 and 3. I’ll also wait patiently for the modders who make the mods I need for my game to update their mods so I can play this game.
(But I also hope my ten dollars goes into making an amazing Sims 5 base game).
agreed.
I seen a lot of review he did with both TS3/TS4
I just like others more
I agree. His earlier reviews of the Sims 4 packs were less cringe-y. Either he's jumping on the bandwagon or others are jumping on with him in just crapping on everything this franchise puts out. Either way, I am tired of him and others like him. If you don't like the game, don't play it. Do you have to take the enjoyment out of everyone who does?
Don't like him don't watch him. Let others enjoy him.
Are you actually him or what? Why are you so affronted that people point out his negativity?
No , I am just a fan..
He's a real good genuine guy. He doesn't bull **** and tells it like it is.
Since you tell us to "don't like the game don't play it" I'm just telling you the same logic...don't like him , don't watch him?
And packs now DO? You have got to be kidding me. You can't even attend the Geekcon festival most of the time because the electronics break when it rains. Packs stopped integrating well with each other after The Sims 2. It was true for The Sims 3 and it's true for The Sims 4.
I never had any issues playing with every pack at the same time. Not back then, not now. It's not the game's fault if a lot of people insist on playing it on a potato PC.
All of them, even TS2 were (and still are) buggy games. I remember when you'd call a repair technician in TS2 and 100 of them would be spawned making the game crash. Not to mention CORRUPTION, a major issue TS2 still has to this day. It was never fixed. You need to use mods to keeps your neighborhoods from corrupting. The Sims 2 was the first game to feature microtransactions and an online Store. It also locked away gameplay items (baby items). As regards overpriced content, that's purely subjective. But TS4 is the worst offender in this regard, especially when you compare what EPs for 2 and 3 added to the game vs EPs in TS4.
No, it can't. But what EA could was to keep supporting those games until all major issues are fixed. They always abandon the previous game when a new one is released, and they leave them in a bad state.
I don't believe this is accurate. He didn't "hate" the Supernatural pack from TS3 as he said that despite his disinterest in Supernatural content, it was a well-made pack for those who did want it. A pack he was definitely not happy with was this pack or Laundry Day, Katy Perry Sweet Treats, etc because he's not sure why anyone would want those packs since they either just make the game more tedious, offer next to nothing, or are uninspired.
Onto other matters, I'm somewhat confused by the reaction to this pack. Some individuals, both in the comments section of the review and in the discussion here state they were expecting a pack similar to that of Freetime in the Sims 2. However, that pack is an expansion (a TS2 expansion, which while I admit I've never played TS2, I'll guess that TS2 expansions had more content than even TS4 expansions, somebody correct me if I'm wrong) while this was announced as a stuff pack. Stuff packs in the past never offered much content, (I do acknowledge that this pack seems to have less content than the average stuff pack and heavily criticize it on that) so when the Sims team announced a stuff pack that the community could vote for, I lost interest quickly since it only reminded me of Laundry Day.
I don't defend the pack, it really doesn't seem worth it to me, especially for 10 dollars since it boils down to "10 bucks and your Sims can knit items and sell them or wear them", but it's not as if we were going to get multiple hobbies/skills related to Arts and Crafts since that strikes me as either a GP theme or something alongside an expansion. However, this does really suck for people (including myself) who wanted/were open to an Freetime style pack because now that Nifty Knitting exists, we'll likely not get such a pack.
12-01-2017
Rebuilding Genetics Family Tree
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My Plumbob is GREEN today
I can understand that there’s a huge number of players with different playstyles and different opinions. Not everybody will like certain packs and that is fine and logical. I do complain about the quality of these packs and the whole game itself. It started wrongly with too many restrictions for a sandbox game and the lack of too many features.
TS4 has no open world, no Create a Style and no world customization which make a huge impact on the whole game. The Open World feature is not just that you don’t have loading screens, it means that the whole world, all the Sims in it progress with you in every single second of gameplay. All actions have consequences, some good and some bad.
Talking about consequences, you just have to play TS3 for a few minutes to realise that people fight on the street, you can get insulted, relationships are harder to achieve, money is way much harder to get, you can get robbed, you can get angry or sad… Lots of things could happen to you in TS3, while in the TS4 everything is perfect and nothing out of the ordinary happens. TS4 is a game where there is no challenge for anything at all, killing a sim is almost impossible. In the TS3 when you get out of your home you really don’t know what will happen, while in the TS4 you already know: nothing.
Animations are way too childish, and sometimes way too feminine. When you play a couple, sometimes the responses of the man to a romantic interaction are too feminine and that breaks my immersion. If my Sim is brave and tough why should he behave like a child or a woman?
Some animations happen so frequently that they are not something funny anymore. The murphy bed breaks too often, lightning breaks things in the yard too often, and a huge list of things that should be funny when they happen once in a while.
Just play the TS3 a bit to see tons and tons of little features that adds a lot of depth: throwing food gives you a negative moodlet of “wasting food”, clocks show the real time, you can go to the grocery to buy food, you can make your bed… It’s an endless list of little things that don’t have anything to do with more and more content, all these are already in the base game.
Emotions take over any trait that your Sim has, so all focused Sims behaves exactly the same no matter what traits he or she has. With the emotion system traits are almost useless, meaning there are no unique personalities. All the sims behave the same way. Plain game, plain personalities.
The Lifetime rewards system of TS3 is way much better than in TS4. I like the idea of having a big goal to achieve that will be hard to get. This goal will define his personality, aspirations, career and job. Having a happy Sim will increase his Lifetime Happiness score, even when sleeping: having a good and comfortable bed, next to cosy fireplace in a room well decorated and with good views affects the happiness of the sim and his Lifetime Happiness score. In TS4 you can have multiple lifetime goals, some of them you can’t achieve unless you change for job… it doesn’t make sense.
Last EP is a good example of what a game company should never ever do. How is it possible that the main features of your game don’t work? I’m not talking about some minor bugs, no, I’m talking about the main features of the game: eco footprint always changes to neutral no matter what you do, some NAPs can ruin your game… This means that they don’t test the game. I repeat: THESE ARE MAIN FEATURES that we all discovered just by playing the game a few hours.
EPs give separate features that can only be played in the world of the EP. Only the new world in Eco Lifestyle can show all the things of the pack while the other worlds only show a cough and some clouds in the distance. Nothing more. You can only swim in the ocean in Sulany. Really? You can only go hiking/having a walk in the forest. Really? Rumour says that maybe there could be a winter activities pack. I’m sure it will come with a new world, probably a one with mountains but many of the new activities will be only playable in that world… it would probably be a new disappointment.
Apartments are another disappointment. Way too many restrictions. Would it be too difficult to let us redistribute the space of the floor? I can accept that we can’t change the exterior of the building (that’s realistic) but forcing us live in these apartments with almost no customization is not right. There is a nice apartment in the Spice Market district that has a balcony but the “Needs TLC” trait. Even if you change the trait with mods and remove all the items related to this trait it still has odd smells, bugs, etc. Really? The only apartment in the neighbourhood with balcony and it is useless? Some other apartments have very tall walls. The Spire Apartments is one of my favourite because it has good views, a balcony and plenty of space, but the space feels like a narrow tube with all these tall walls. If you place more than three rooms in a floor and don’t play with walls down you have to play from above to see what your sim is doing. Wrong choice. Could we change the height of the whole apartment floor? Apart from that, we cannot create our own apartments. Is it too difficult to add a shell so we can place it anywhere and have our own apartment?
Some worlds are ridiculously small. I don’t like to play a world knowing I only have one neighbour and the rest is just a decoration. Besides, If I’m playing a DJ who is single and loves the big city: why should he/she go to the desert to just read a book? Or go to the mountains to have a coffee? It breaks my immersion. I need a world with plenty of lots to have a library, a gym, a bar, a disco, … all the things my sim will need in that world. Developers say that big worlds affect the performance. I really don’t know why because only the neighbourhood you’re in is loaded, not the entire world, but I’m not an expert on The Sims code, so it must be true. What if we could disable the worlds we don’t use without disabling the whole pack? That would solve the performance issue and we could have bigger worlds.
I also don’t like that EA is more focused on releasing more content than fixing the huge amount of bugs we’re still experiencing. Some people say that there are separate teams working on different things… It don’t find it ethically right to have a certain amount of developers working on new content knowing that many people’s game is ruined because of the previous EP. I payed 40€ for a pack that I cannot play because of the bugs and I see EA excited about releasing a new pack… I don’t find it ethically right.
This game has many flaws in the base game and that is why it will not improve much more. EA instead of fixing these things like the emotion system, apartments, swimmable oceans, etc., it is just focused on releasing more swallow content of poor quality that you can only play in a certain world, in a certain way, with lots of restrictions and poor customization. This game is not a sandbox anymore and above all, it is not a life simulator. It’s a beautiful empty shell.
Peace!
Personalities:
- Sim traits should be at least 5.
- Emotions shouldn't interfere with the Sims traits and should be something secondary. The Sim Traits should define a Sim behaviour.
- When something really good or bad happens to a sim, that feeling should taker over the rest. For example, if your sim's mother/father dies, the sadness should take over whatever other emotions the sim has and should last longer. That's realistic. You have to struggle to make your sim recover as soon as you can so that he/she can carry on with his/her life.
- Starsign, favourite food/colour features. This simple little things add more personality to your sim. His/her reations to her/his favourite food, ask others about their the starsign....
- Wants/Fears. This was great in TS2. I miss this so much. Based on the Sims traits (not emotions) you can have different wants/fears...
Reduce the occurrences of certain animations like the break of the murphy bed, lightning breaking objects. When these actions happens too often it is annoying and not funny.
Game Difficulty: Make some Game Options available to increase the game difficulty by choice:
- raising bills / rent
- reduce the money sims get from work and make it harder to get a raise.
- raising a skill should be much harder
- A sim should be able to die more easily if you neglect him/her. If you don't care for your sim, meet the consequences: death.
Worlds:
- Have the option to disable the worlds you don't play. In TS3 in the laucher application we had the option to enable/disable certain packs, so I guess it should done with worlds in TS4. You could still use the objects and gameplay, but not the world. This would allow you to release bigger worlds.
- Bigger worlds. I love those big worlds like Windenburg or San Myshuno and try to explore every single corner they have to offer. Small worlds makes me claustrophobic and they are not realistic.
- Don't force us to certain lots in Worlds like the Chalet Gardens in Windenburg... it's space wasted suitable for a park or any other thing we want in our world. We should decide what we want.
- Please, do something about lot types. There is not enough space in worlds to have residential and community lots. Could you make possible to join some features in one type of lot? If you place some objects in the lot NPCs should go to work on them: barista machine, Chef/waiter/host station, etc.). The possibility of different type of lots are endless: a cafe/arcade, a pool/restaurant/lounge, ....
- Why can't we have a rental lot in Sulany? I would love to go on vacation to Sulany, or place a beach in the island in Windenburg...
Apartments:
- Wall height should be customizable. Most of the windows of the apartments have replicas suitable for different heights, so it should't be a problem.
- We should be able to redistribute the space of one entire floor of apartments. It should meet the current restrictions of a mail box, a trash can and an elevator... Some apartments are huge and could hold more apartments.
- please, don't force us to certain lot traits. "Need TLC" should be optional and the objects of this trait should be in the buy catalog.
- If my apartment does not have the "Lively neighbours" trait, why my neighbours are always making noises? It's fun sometimes but not every single night.
Depth: This is going to be tough because TS4 lacks deeply of this. Actions and Consequences.
- when you design something new, please think about replayability. Strangerville was fun the first hour... then it's completely forgettable. The world is tiny and we already have a much better desert world: Oasis Springs. I don't remove Strangerville just because of the military career.
- design things having in mind what has been released before and how it could affect other features. When I heard about Realm of Magic I started thinking about a Harry Potter world with witches and wizards, magical bars.... when I saw the world I felt really disappointed. Nothing could be done there.
- Please, don't make some features only available to certain worlds and try to go back and find a way to adapt this feature to other worlds. For example: I love Windenburg and the island has beautiful "beaches" but sims cannot swim or collect seashells... Why my sim can't have a walk in San Myshuno but he/she can in Granite Falls?
- we all love those little details that make the game more realistic and great: having a walk hand by hand with your boy/girlfriend, a grocery, burglars, graveyards, cuddle on bed, slowdance, clocks showing the real time, make your bed, look out through the window, the "fully-rested" moodlet when you sleep and fill the Energy bar...
- smarter sims and the improvement of certain situations. When my family get together at dinner around the table, the just get up, greet each other, one sits on the piano, the other on couch, the other in a chair in the kitchen... that's not fun, they are having dinner and should be seated. The same happens in restaurants. The stand-up action while watching a movie is terrible, at the middle of the movie there's not a single soul seated.
- I miss going out and find awkward situations: couples arguing, people fighting, angry sims yelling at me, a dog barking at me. I need more things happening, some good, some bad. If my sim hurt him/herself at the gym, he/she shouldn't be able to run, walk or do some activities for sometime until he/she recovers. But please, don't make that happen ALL THE TIME.
- Story progression of some kind. I need to feel that everything is changing around me: couples marry, have babies, divorce, people die, people rent the apartment next door to mine... I need to get rid of this... "static" feeling while I'm playing.
Resuming:
- please, do not force us to play in a certain way or in a certain world, fixed lot traits, fixed lot types. There are too many restrictions everywhere. Everything is possible if you check the requirements for certain changes, it just takes a bit more programming. If modders can, YOU CAN.
- We need more things happening around and some of them bad, we should play not knowing what will happen next. Things should change around us, surprise us. The game needs Story Progression. The game should be more challenging and we should take care of our sims.
- Unique sims. Please, this is a must. All sims behave exactly the same. Please, emotions/traits should be reworked.
I really hope you do. I love The Sims, but sadly not TS4.
Thanks anyway.
It seems you don't realize what the word respect means.
Respect: a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
This is earned not give by definition.
What you are describing is courtesy.
Courtesy: the showing of politeness in one's attitude and behavior toward others.
This should be given not earned.
I can be courteous to you without having respect for your opinions or position on a subject.
Now on to the response.
I happen to agree with LGR 100% on this review.
That said I didn't come to my decision not to by the SP just on his say so.
In fact I have not bought a EP/GP/SP for full price since Strangerville (P.S. Roosterteeth should sue for that one)
And have not bought a SP since "My first pet".
The reason for this is I refuse to open my wallet and give EA money for ripping us off.
This has been an ongoing theme with the Sims 4 of taking Sims 3 EP cutting out up to 70% of their content and selling them as as full EP with 30% of the Sims 3 content then selling the remaining content as SP or just leaving it out altogether.
This SP is more of the same "Here's the first of many watered-down hobby SP that could have been in a larger EP but we can make more money on them if we split them up".
So this one will be on the if it get down to 50%+ off I may buy it list.
yes this lgr make money on this though so I can understand that
agreed
Well, aren't you a practitioner of technicality? Ok, fair enough. Lets play that game.
You do know that a dictionary is nothing more than a collection of generally accepted terms.... right? And NOT a bible of what is absolutely correct under that law?
"Respect" .... is an emotional activity.... such as love, compassion, hate, or contempt..... which may be freely given, or freely expected.
I haven't yet come across a book, including dictionaries you are citing, that suggest that "respect must be "earned", or in any way paid for.
I don't agree with your claim that "my" respect must be earned before I offer it to other people.
If you are someone who feels that "your" respect must be earned before being offered... fair enough. That's your choice. But don't explain your personal choice as being born from a generally accepted norm of social economic consensus.