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The reason I'll be harder on Sims than Paralives.

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  • GoldmoldarGoldmoldar Posts: 11,966 Member
    Goldmoldar wrote: »
    Scobre wrote: »
    The skin on the parafolk still looks kind of flat but have you seen pre-alpha Sims? They also looked weird. I'm sure they're going to modify a few things.

    I can be a true pain in the backside when it comes to reviewing and criticizing aesthetics. Nobody ever likes me for that. :#
    The environment and shading/lighting looks wonderful though. I also understand many people are already in love with the look of the parafolk, although I can see their potential of looking even better.
    I would be surprised if they didn’t get modified. By giving them a few tweaks here and there, these characters will look truly awesome. It’s only my opinion though. And I think the guys and gals at Paralives are doing a great job so far.

    I think they will at least make them a pinch more detailed so the game holds up to today's standards. But you know this is also a thing they need to be careful about. Paralives will most likely be released during the next Sims Generation (2+ years from now) and will have to compete with the Sims 5. Now even though it could easily go up against Sims 4 (at least graphically) you never know what EA has in store for the Sims 5 so if Paralives wants to succeed they should try to evolve the game as much as possible.

    However I have to admit I really was not expecting them to be showcasing such good content in such short amounts of time. If it's true then it's remarkable for a team of what 5-6 people? For their first project ever together this is indeed good stuff.
    Thing is, if they add too much detail with graphics, people will complain about it being too realistic and uncanny valley and running slow on their computers. I do think it looks more modern than the Sims 4 with lighting and graphics personally because of while Sims 4 choose to use their low poly on shapes of objects, Paralives chooses to use low poly in the texturing of objects rather than the low poly shapes. I rather have smooth than bumpy for shapes, but just my personal preference. Then again I love low bit and platform games too.

    Again better graphics doesn't equal more realistic. The art style might stay the same but they could add more detailed textures etc.
    The Sims in the Sims 4 for example aren't necessarily more realistic than previous games, however they are graphically more demanding.

    Did the Gurus actually make a statement on Paralives?

    I agree as great graphics is not the whole game as gameplay is also part of that equation and while graphics can enhance an player's view of the game being played it alone cannot say how good an game is. However in some cases gameplay can trump good graphics as it did back in the early stages of playing games before graphics became an thing. One does not necessarily need the best graphic to play but for staying power gameplay is just as important. Heck back in the day the sound card was King where if you had SoundBlaster or Turtle Beach and other brands you was King. But it is not as dominant today as graphics now the ruler.

    @Goldmoldar, I believe game developers always made an attempt to create the graphics for their games as good as they possibly could with the available time, technology and budget. Since day one picture and sound were equally important supporting assets to gameplay.

    I remember playing the original Prince of Persia as a tiny kid and I was totally in awe of the graphics and the smooth, realistic animation, having learned much later that it was created using a rotoscope technique by tracing a real life actor's motion which was then translated into the game.
    Very much like a 'primitive' version of today's motion capture.
    But this was way before Soundblaster and Turtle Beach got famous for their soundcards & headphones.
    Like in film, sound and visuals share a 50/50% importance and always have.

    oh yes, I could not stand playing games in CGA but I tolerated it for the gameplay but I was glad when EGA came along with it 16 colors and me enjoying my games more. I am more appreciative of the games I got to play years ago and EA is now and shell of the company it once was as the company itself do not change it is the people who change it. I still have majority of the games from way back than and it would be an real task to run most of them on an system of todays specs. Heck I remember when there were no graphics but you have to rely on your imagination and you must have an good one at that and I was amazed. I remember Zork and the others. But of course one was in awe even if by todays standard those same graphics today are subpar because it was something new and I remember playing King's Quest in VGA and it was like I was in another world. Yes, there is an 50/50 for film as there is no gameplay but in games all Sound, Visuals and gameplay all have to work well together like an well oiled machine.
    Omen by HP Intel®️ Core™️ i9- 12900K W/ RGB Liquid Cooler 32GB Nvidia RTX 3080 10Gb ASUS Ultra-Wide 34" Curved Monitor. Omen By HP Intel® Core™ i7-12800HX 32 GB Nvidia 3070 Ti 8 GB 17.3 Screen
  • CAPTAIN_NXR7CAPTAIN_NXR7 Posts: 4,451 Member
    Goldmoldar wrote: »
    Goldmoldar wrote: »
    Scobre wrote: »
    The skin on the parafolk still looks kind of flat but have you seen pre-alpha Sims? They also looked weird. I'm sure they're going to modify a few things.

    I can be a true pain in the backside when it comes to reviewing and criticizing aesthetics. Nobody ever likes me for that. :#
    The environment and shading/lighting looks wonderful though. I also understand many people are already in love with the look of the parafolk, although I can see their potential of looking even better.
    I would be surprised if they didn’t get modified. By giving them a few tweaks here and there, these characters will look truly awesome. It’s only my opinion though. And I think the guys and gals at Paralives are doing a great job so far.

    I think they will at least make them a pinch more detailed so the game holds up to today's standards. But you know this is also a thing they need to be careful about. Paralives will most likely be released during the next Sims Generation (2+ years from now) and will have to compete with the Sims 5. Now even though it could easily go up against Sims 4 (at least graphically) you never know what EA has in store for the Sims 5 so if Paralives wants to succeed they should try to evolve the game as much as possible.

    However I have to admit I really was not expecting them to be showcasing such good content in such short amounts of time. If it's true then it's remarkable for a team of what 5-6 people? For their first project ever together this is indeed good stuff.
    Thing is, if they add too much detail with graphics, people will complain about it being too realistic and uncanny valley and running slow on their computers. I do think it looks more modern than the Sims 4 with lighting and graphics personally because of while Sims 4 choose to use their low poly on shapes of objects, Paralives chooses to use low poly in the texturing of objects rather than the low poly shapes. I rather have smooth than bumpy for shapes, but just my personal preference. Then again I love low bit and platform games too.

    Again better graphics doesn't equal more realistic. The art style might stay the same but they could add more detailed textures etc.
    The Sims in the Sims 4 for example aren't necessarily more realistic than previous games, however they are graphically more demanding.

    Did the Gurus actually make a statement on Paralives?

    I agree as great graphics is not the whole game as gameplay is also part of that equation and while graphics can enhance an player's view of the game being played it alone cannot say how good an game is. However in some cases gameplay can trump good graphics as it did back in the early stages of playing games before graphics became an thing. One does not necessarily need the best graphic to play but for staying power gameplay is just as important. Heck back in the day the sound card was King where if you had SoundBlaster or Turtle Beach and other brands you was King. But it is not as dominant today as graphics now the ruler.

    @Goldmoldar, I believe game developers always made an attempt to create the graphics for their games as good as they possibly could with the available time, technology and budget. Since day one picture and sound were equally important supporting assets to gameplay.

    I remember playing the original Prince of Persia as a tiny kid and I was totally in awe of the graphics and the smooth, realistic animation, having learned much later that it was created using a rotoscope technique by tracing a real life actor's motion which was then translated into the game.
    Very much like a 'primitive' version of today's motion capture.
    But this was way before Soundblaster and Turtle Beach got famous for their soundcards & headphones.
    Like in film, sound and visuals share a 50/50% importance and always have.

    oh yes, I could not stand playing games in CGA but I tolerated it for the gameplay but I was glad when EGA came along with it 16 colors and me enjoying my games more. I am more appreciative of the games I got to play years ago and EA is now and shell of the company it once was as the company itself do not change it is the people who change it. I still have majority of the games from way back than and it would be an real task to run most of them on an system of todays specs. Heck I remember when there were no graphics but you have to rely on your imagination and you must have an good one at that and I was amazed. I remember Zork and the others. But of course one was in awe even if by todays standard those same graphics today are subpar because it was something new and I remember playing King's Quest in VGA and it was like I was in another world. Yes, there is an 50/50 for film as there is no gameplay but in games all Sound, Visuals and gameplay all have to work well together like an well oiled machine.

    Indeed! Some of the retro games like Zork and King's Quest VGA editions are available online and updated for newer systems. They're still a joy to play, even if some are from before my time!
  • ApparentlyAwesomeApparentlyAwesome Posts: 1,523 Member
    I've seen more improvement in paralives than I have seen in sims and sims is 20 years old. We're still buying the same tired expansions that should be base game material by now, corners have been cut, bugs, missing core gameplay etc. Meanwhile paralives has a height slider, how many times and for how long has the sims community pleaded for a height slider? But this little game with what 2 or 3 people working on it have done so. Ea is billionaire company, cant give you lounge chairs or functional game without bugs but they give you a tv show you didn't ask for. Problem is we tend to rush the things and want them immediat, that's why ea rushed sims 4. we just need to give them as much time as they need. A rushed game is bad, but a delayed game can only get better.

    This.

    I still play the video of them showing how lots can be created in awe. Being able to create custom lot shapes and sizes and even alter the size later on is something I've always wanted and was something I found annoying not to be able to do but it looks like it can be done. I would say I'm surprised it can be done, but I'm not. I think I'm more surprised that here is this up and coming game doing what I wish had been done in The Sims series if not by Sims 3 then definitely in Sims 4. The window and door placement without having to abide by a grid just recently came in The Sims 4 or it would've been yet another new feature Paralives would've been bringing that had me side eyeing The Sims.

    The Sims 4 has some things going for it but it's been such a disappointment as a main series game to me. It's like to get those few good things they had to back track on way too much and even the sims themselves aren't as great as they used to be. Just thinking back on some of their explanations over the years sometimes it came across to me as them choosing aesthetics over gameplay, sometimes it was like they forgot the game is about what story the player plans to tell, and sometimes it just seemed like they were in a rush to put certain things out, most notably the base game.

    Build mode I feel I'd be pretty satisfied with so now I'm looking forward to learning and seeing more on the character development from Paralives like personalities and interactions. They're likely working on it now if not soon based on what I read about the newest member to the Paralives team.
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  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    Sims is a AAA game funded by one of the largest video game publishers. The fact that people want to judge a patreon-funded indie game against Sims 4 should give people a pretty good idea of how badly the developers are handling Sims 4. Honesty EA needs to get new staff for the future Sims games because the people they have now are not getting it right. They are probably more suited for less complex games. Not saying that as an insult, just an observation since they really try to keep everything as simple and watered down as possible which has led to a boring gameplay experience that the developers find acceptable.

    don't blame the stuff blame the coperate for wanting to give them deadlines which give us half-packs
    6adMCGP.gif
  • ApparentlyAwesomeApparentlyAwesome Posts: 1,523 Member
    I read this article a few days ago and I think this part sums up not just Alex Massé's reason for making Paralives but also the reason so many Sims players are intrigued by it.
    As a big fan of The Sims himself, Massé says that the decision to make Paralives came from his love of the series, but also his frustrations. Paralives is his opportunity to show the potentials of what a life sim could achieve that EA hasn't explored.

    "As a fan of The Sims, I think other fans were like me and were tired of the same thing," Massé says "It's always the same expansions, each time there is less and less content, and you have to buy everything every time a new base game releases. I think it's frustrating for the community. There's not much innovation, for example, the build mode—it's not changed a lot since The Sims 2. There are a few improvements but there's no risk-taking and I think that's what people like in Paralives, we're trying something different."

    For me, I don't necessarily mind the same expansions and re-buying every time a new game is released but I do mind less and less content and the lack of innovation. I can also understand why people would take issue with buying the same expansions and I agree with it. If not much is going to change every time Seasons or Pets roll around, especially if they're going to skimp on the content instead of growing these packs to be something grander then I don't see a point in them being new packs every time. Just add it to the base game.

    Another interesting detail from the same article:
    Relying on Patreon's longevity as the sole income for funding comes with its own stresses. If the platform changes its terms and conditions with projects or even shuts down, it will directly sever a crucial income for those projects. Massé says that the team has a back-up plan for if that happens.

    "We have other plans," Massé says. We are in contact with some investors who are really interested in the project. We told them that we prefer to self publish the game and that the Patreon funding is enough for us. But if we need to increase the size of the team or if Patreon does not work out in the future, we can always contact them."

    Should they have to go that route I hope it doesn't change or alter their plans in a negative way.
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  • ClarionOfJoyClarionOfJoy Posts: 1,945 Member
    I read this article a few days ago and I think this part sums up not just Alex Massé's reason for making Paralives but also the reason so many Sims players are intrigued by it.
    As a big fan of The Sims himself, Massé says that the decision to make Paralives came from his love of the series, but also his frustrations. Paralives is his opportunity to show the potentials of what a life sim could achieve that EA hasn't explored.

    "As a fan of The Sims, I think other fans were like me and were tired of the same thing," Massé says "It's always the same expansions, each time there is less and less content, and you have to buy everything every time a new base game releases. I think it's frustrating for the community. There's not much innovation, for example, the build mode—it's not changed a lot since The Sims 2. There are a few improvements but there's no risk-taking and I think that's what people like in Paralives, we're trying something different."

    For me, I don't necessarily mind the same expansions and re-buying every time a new game is released but I do mind less and less content and the lack of innovation. I can also understand why people would take issue with buying the same expansions and I agree with it. If not much is going to change every time Seasons or Pets roll around, especially if they're going to skimp on the content instead of growing these packs to be something grander then I don't see a point in them being new packs every time. Just add it to the base game.

    Another interesting detail from the same article:
    Relying on Patreon's longevity as the sole income for funding comes with its own stresses. If the platform changes its terms and conditions with projects or even shuts down, it will directly sever a crucial income for those projects. Massé says that the team has a back-up plan for if that happens.

    "We have other plans," Massé says. We are in contact with some investors who are really interested in the project. We told them that we prefer to self publish the game and that the Patreon funding is enough for us. But if we need to increase the size of the team or if Patreon does not work out in the future, we can always contact them."

    Should they have to go that route I hope it doesn't change or alter their plans in a negative way.


    Thank you so much for this article! I really love Masse's vision for his game and what he says really does reflect the frustration that a lot of simmers have had with TS4.

    Also I feel a lot better that they have a back up plan with funding. I actually wrote to them a while back and suggested that they talk to some game publishers about that. It's great to know that they already have that covered!

    -=<*>=-

    Regarding The Sims series, so far, the only hiccup to me right now is The Sims 4. If EAxis can just get back to what made the previous iterations so great - not so much the repetitive themes, but what made them so fun to play anyway for so many years after the end of their runs, was really the in-depth gameplay itself. It's not enough to just throw so much content into an iteration - TS4 proved that a ton of vacuous packs doesn't help make the game better.

    So I really hope that EAxis will add new gameplay that is fun, but intelligent and fresh. On that point, I agree you with that they need to bring in totally new people with great ideas, not people who think poop jokes would be cool to add to a game.

    -=<*>=-

    Paradox Tectonic has been really quiet themselves which to me is a wise move, but I'm honestly looking the most forward to their game. I absolutely love both TS3 and TS2 because of their detail and depth of gameplay. And the thing was, both games were vastly different from each in terms of that gameplay. So I'm pretty sure whatever sim game Paradox Tectonic comes out with will also have a different style of gameplay from TS2 and TS3, but have the same amazing quality of depth and customization that they have.

    It's to be noted though that Paradox as a whole, loves DLCs, so people need to anticipate that. But I have a lot of their games - the DLCs are of great quality with a lot meaningful content that are worth buying. It is like that with TS3 so not a culture shock to me, but other people might not know that.


  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    MadameLee wrote: »
    Sims is a AAA game funded by one of the largest video game publishers. The fact that people want to judge a patreon-funded indie game against Sims 4 should give people a pretty good idea of how badly the developers are handling Sims 4. Honesty EA needs to get new staff for the future Sims games because the people they have now are not getting it right. They are probably more suited for less complex games. Not saying that as an insult, just an observation since they really try to keep everything as simple and watered down as possible which has led to a boring gameplay experience that the developers find acceptable.

    don't blame the stuff blame the coperate for wanting to give them deadlines which give us half-packs

    I will absolutely blame the staff. They are the one’s actually making this stuff and decide what is or is not acceptable for release. Deadlines have always been a thing if their issue is having a deadline then that just proves my point that management can’t handle the job. When we get features that lack the depth players want (and usually provided lots of details for) it’s not like it’s a deadline that caused that; it’s management not understanding what is being asked for and thinking an inferior idea is good enough or even the same thing. That’s the issue here. EA is problematic, for sure, but that corporation isn’t making the same choices for the game that Maxis staff are; and Maxis has a bad habit of making bad decisions that result in forgettable gimmicks with little replay value.
  • ApparentlyAwesomeApparentlyAwesome Posts: 1,523 Member
    I do think EA is to blame for the state of The Sims 4 currently, but I highly doubt Maxis is completely innocent when it comes to the state of The Sims 4. EA definitely holds sway, but down to the detail? I doubt it. Actually, Grant said as much here.

    Some of the poor choices made when it comes to this game do fall on Maxis' shoulders. They can ask for extensions if need be but if I recall correctly, multiple gurus said they didn't want one when it came to the base game. The game would be released when it was ready and it was, in their eyes, ready so they weren't going to delay it. How do we know that isn't the mentality they take with their packs if that's the mentality they took with the base game?

    When it comes to resources, because another complaint is often that EA doesn't provide them with enough resources, I still wonder how their current resources are used. I feel like people want to see the best in Maxis because the gurus are like friends. They're on Twitter to chat with and most of them are likable, getting a like or a response from one may feel good and people become enamored by them but at the end of the day they are part of a business. Maxis is a business. They remind unsatisfied, dejected and neglected players of that all the time when explaining why they're focused on drawing in new players or why certain features can't be had. They make business decisions as much if not more than EA when it comes to The Sims because they are ultimately the ones who make the game. Grant actually had a twitter thread last year explaining his role when he was senior producer and more stuff happens under Maxis than people seem to think.

    Also, another thing EA gets blamed for is trying to push The Sims online. I went digging which led me to some great comments here where I realized @drake_mccarty has been pointing this stuff out for a while now, lol. But in that I found a link to this article. Maxis trying to explain why offline mode didn't fit with their "vision" for another game of theirs, SimCity. It wasn't EA's vision, though I'm sure EA didn't mind, it was the vision of Maxis. It's been a part of their vision or at least something they've been curious about for a long time now if this and the interview they link is anything to go by.

    I know people want to believe the best in them, but what makes anyone think the ways of EA haven't rubbed off on Maxis even a little? Or that this is just how they've become or how they've been for a while? Especially based on some of the things said and done this iteration. Maybe Maxis' vision and aspirations for The Sims just don't line up with some of us anymore. EA may hold the purse straps but Maxis ultimately decides what they want to accomplish. When it comes to the state of The Sims 4 I think they should shoulder a lot more blame than they get.
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  • Horrorgirl6Horrorgirl6 Posts: 3,170 Member
    I think some are Ea a fault, and some team fault.I mean EA was the one who wanted this to be originally an online game.Than retool it to be Sims4.Also they were probably in charge of the deadline.Giving them a short time.They should gave them least two more years.

    Why I think sims teams made some mistakes that ended up making it worst.Like not having toddlers in the base game at launch.Not having an open world, because they felt like you can be more intimate with your sims being a close world.
  • ApparentlyAwesomeApparentlyAwesome Posts: 1,523 Member
    I read this article a few days ago and I think this part sums up not just Alex Massé's reason for making Paralives but also the reason so many Sims players are intrigued by it.
    As a big fan of The Sims himself, Massé says that the decision to make Paralives came from his love of the series, but also his frustrations. Paralives is his opportunity to show the potentials of what a life sim could achieve that EA hasn't explored.

    "As a fan of The Sims, I think other fans were like me and were tired of the same thing," Massé says "It's always the same expansions, each time there is less and less content, and you have to buy everything every time a new base game releases. I think it's frustrating for the community. There's not much innovation, for example, the build mode—it's not changed a lot since The Sims 2. There are a few improvements but there's no risk-taking and I think that's what people like in Paralives, we're trying something different."

    For me, I don't necessarily mind the same expansions and re-buying every time a new game is released but I do mind less and less content and the lack of innovation. I can also understand why people would take issue with buying the same expansions and I agree with it. If not much is going to change every time Seasons or Pets roll around, especially if they're going to skimp on the content instead of growing these packs to be something grander then I don't see a point in them being new packs every time. Just add it to the base game.

    Another interesting detail from the same article:
    Relying on Patreon's longevity as the sole income for funding comes with its own stresses. If the platform changes its terms and conditions with projects or even shuts down, it will directly sever a crucial income for those projects. Massé says that the team has a back-up plan for if that happens.

    "We have other plans," Massé says. We are in contact with some investors who are really interested in the project. We told them that we prefer to self publish the game and that the Patreon funding is enough for us. But if we need to increase the size of the team or if Patreon does not work out in the future, we can always contact them."

    Should they have to go that route I hope it doesn't change or alter their plans in a negative way.


    Thank you so much for this article! I really love Masse's vision for his game and what he says really does reflect the frustration that a lot of simmers have had with TS4.

    Also I feel a lot better that they have a back up plan with funding. I actually wrote to them a while back and suggested that they talk to some game publishers about that. It's great to know that they already have that covered!

    -=<*>=-

    Regarding The Sims series, so far, the only hiccup to me right now is The Sims 4. If EAxis can just get back to what made the previous iterations so great - not so much the repetitive themes, but what made them so fun to play anyway for so many years after the end of their runs, was really the in-depth gameplay itself. It's not enough to just throw so much content into an iteration - TS4 proved that a ton of vacuous packs doesn't help make the game better.

    So I really hope that EAxis will add new gameplay that is fun, but intelligent and fresh. On that point, I agree you with that they need to bring in totally new people with great ideas, not people who think poop jokes would be cool to add to a game.

    -=<*>=-

    Paradox Tectonic has been really quiet themselves which to me is a wise move, but I'm honestly looking the most forward to their game. I absolutely love both TS3 and TS2 because of their detail and depth of gameplay. And the thing was, both games were vastly different from each in terms of that gameplay. So I'm pretty sure whatever sim game Paradox Tectonic comes out with will also have a different style of gameplay from TS2 and TS3, but have the same amazing quality of depth and customization that they have.

    It's to be noted though that Paradox as a whole, loves DLCs, so people need to anticipate that. But I have a lot of their games - the DLCs are of great quality with a lot meaningful content that are worth buying. It is like that with TS3 so not a culture shock to me, but other people might not know that.


    Their vision for The Sims 4 according to their post back in July 2014 was a new experience that brings your Sims to life in deeper and uniquely personal ways – through emotions, personality traits, behaviors and interactions. And it's up to each individual player to decide if they accomplished that I guess, but it failed in my eyes. I don't see any of that in The Sims 4 and what's funny is that it's what made the previous games so good.

    Then some people try to defend the game always go to blaming your imagination. I never heard someone's imagination blamed for not having fun in any of the sims games as much as I've heard with the current one. If you like the game and you like using your imagination for everything that's fine but I'm one of those who doesn't see a point in having the game if I have to imagine most of it. I might as well imagine the game. It's a life simulation game, not all the pressure should be on my imagination. Meet me halfway, provide the tools to help me live up to my imagination. Don't give fewer tools and a poorer version of the tools I used to have, update one or two of them then act like my imagination isn't up to snuff. The reason I stick to Sims 2 and Sims 3 is because I can do more of what I want to do with them than with Sims 4. That's also the reason I'm interested in what Paralives is doing. It looks like more tools to help live up to my imagination, not fewer.

    I think Paralives has to be more open considering they're relying on funding from future players but Paradox can afford to be quiet so I'm definitely curious to get a look at what they're working on. We probably won't know for a while but I find it intriguing the way Rod Humble is talking and knowing his history with The Sims 2 and Sims 3. If their game, Paralives, and Sims 5 all get released around the same time and are good... :relieved: If it's good, and especially if online and multiplayer aren't required I'll play it like I play Sims 2 and Sims 3.
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  • EA_JozEA_Joz Posts: 3,164 EA Staff (retired)
    Hello everyone! Please remember to keep things friendly and constructive. There is no need to argue back and forth to the point that you start insulting each other. Please review our Posting Rules & Guidelines here:

    https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/categories/forum-rules

    ~EA_Joz
  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    @ApparentlyAwesome except Paralives' devs aren't keeping quiet- first Alex and then other devs have showed us since last year: window resizing, colour wheel, flippable furniture, making a single bed turn into a king? size bed, and also being able to lift it off the ground and turn it into a loft bed, tombstones, Maggie's loft, Maggie, day/night cycle, Sebastian and now the stacking video. They had two surveys -which non Paterons got to participate in (but the Paterons got it first)-I didn't participate in the 2nd because I'm not part of the LTGBQ community but I did participate in the first. Also around New Year's they showed us a picture of table set for New Year's Eve celebrations
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  • ApparentlyAwesomeApparentlyAwesome Posts: 1,523 Member
    MadameLee wrote: »
    @ApparentlyAwesome except Paralives' devs aren't keeping quiet- first Alex and then other devs have showed us since last year: window resizing, colour wheel, flippable furniture, making a single bed turn into a king? size bed, and also being able to lift it off the ground and turn it into a loft bed, tombstones, Maggie's loft, Maggie, day/night cycle, Sebastian and now the stacking video. They had two surveys -which non Paterons got to participate in (but the Paterons got it first)-I didn't participate in the 2nd because I'm not part of the LTGBQ community but I did participate in the first. Also around New Year's they showed us a picture of table set for New Year's Eve celebrations

    I was talking about Paradox being quiet not Paralives. Paralives is relying on their future players funding to make the game so it's not surprising to me that they're sharing so much. I'm not even sure Paradox Tectonic is actually working on a life simulator they're so tight lipped on what they're doing but I've been following everything Paralives has posted publicly so far. I think the most recent video I saw was the fort made of cardboard boxes in Sebastian's kitchen.
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  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    edited August 2020
    Why I judge the sims harsher than paralives:

    Sims - funded by a multimillion dollar american company who has been publishing video games for over 20 years, and made by a studio with people who have had 20 years of experience at making sims games. More so, it has 4 itterations, multiple spin offs and mobile games that have set the standards and have solidefied what The Sims is.

    Paralives - made by an indie developer, has no other itterations to compare to, it’s only comparable to the sims.
    mHdgPlU.jpg?1
  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    note: Paralives' parafolks will be able to have nicknames, a middle name, and you will be able to reserve the first and last name (like instead of Mulan, Fa/Shang, Li, you could have Fa,Mulan/Li,Shang) and they're considering stage names and titles names
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  • SimtaniumSimtanium Posts: 256 Member
    Am I the only one who thinks that Paralives looks an app game?
  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    edited August 2020
    Simtanium wrote: »
    Am I the only one who thinks that Paralives looks an app game?

    please remember it's in pre-alphba. and it's only going to be for PC/Mac.. so they might polsh stuff later on

    we went from this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41FM7X5TivQ


    to this in just over a year:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPoSzbB7UH8
    Post edited by MadameLee on
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  • LiELFLiELF Posts: 6,439 Member
    Simtanium wrote: »
    Am I the only one who thinks that Paralives looks an app game?

    I mean, so far it looks like "Sims 3 lite" to me, which has dwindled my interest. I'm still keeping a casual eye out, but I don't really like the Parafolk art style so far, it looks amateurish. And I know it's a new small Indie company, I just don't think it should look like it is. But I know that could possibly change as they clean things up, so I'm not writing it off just yet.
    #Team Occult
  • MadameLeeMadameLee Posts: 32,748 Member
    edited August 2020
    @LiELF according to devs the style IS suppose to Cartoony/ but realistic/Stylized (for the parafolks at least) but remember we went from the 1st video to the current picture and when has an app have moveable curtians?

    " Stylized but realistic the 2Dish 3D look is something they want to continue with because its recognizable and simple "
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  • izecsonizecson Posts: 2,875 Member
    I really like the graphic/artstyle now than it was in prealpha, but if it can be improved again that'd be nice.
    ihavemultiplegamertags
  • SimmerGeorgeSimmerGeorge Posts: 2,724 Member
    Since this is pre alpha the style might change till release. The same happens with games like The Sims though the Sims team rarely shows us the game in pre alpha stages.
    Where's my Sims 5 squad at?
  • SimTrippySimTrippy Posts: 7,651 Member
    filipomel wrote: »

    For the record, Sims 2 on PSP is the superior Sims title and that's not up for debate.

    Finally, a true intellectual.

    no-pants-on.png

    Aw I wish PS hadn't taken this off their store :( I would so love to play this on the Vita but alas...
  • SimTrippySimTrippy Posts: 7,651 Member
    edited August 2020
    To the OP: I won't judge it any more or less harshly. I'm also not necessarily harsh on TS. What I care about is that I enjoy the game. If I don't I just don't spend money on it and move on. If I do but find some DLC not interesting enough (like the South America DLC for planet zoo) I just don't buy or wait til it costs like 3-4 euros. It's really that simple for me.

    Now when indie devs, especially those that have very small teams, genuinely surprise me (like the one guy teams behind Stardew Valley and Littlewood, the highly inspired 20 strong team behind Hellblade, or the extremely passionate group behind the Darksiders franchise, who seemingly always find ways to continue even when their studios die, resurrect and whatnot 😂) I'll surely point out just how mind-bendingly awesome their achievements are and, yes, will openly criticize and wonder why big money publishers so often seem unable (or rather unwilling) to do even better when they so clearly could do better, BUT I won't play or support something I don't particularly enjoy just because it was made by a small team. And I also won't not play something I do enjoy just because the publisher has the funds to do more.

    I only care about two things: do I enjoy it and do I feel it's worth spending x amount of money on? If the answer to both is yes, I'll buy it. With the option to reevaluate at a later date if the DLC, the next or even current iteration is still worth it (or alternatively, has improved enough to now be considered worthy). If Paralives is bad, I'll say so. I won't support it just because I want to stick it to EA, but because I think it's worth my time. Which I hope it will be, but it's really up to them to do the work. Not us.
  • davina1221davina1221 Posts: 3,656 Member
    I plan to play Sims3, 4, and Paralives. I see no reason to pick. I might want it all and have a bunch of time and pull out Sims 3. I might pull out Sims4 when I have only a little time. I will play Paralives for what it brings.

    Sims5 is another story. Open world is huge for me and without it, it will look like a start over version of the Sims4. I have loads of things I can do in the Sims3 and Sims4 and Paralives when it comes out. I bought the whole store, all Sims3 packs, and all Sims4 packs, but another closed world will probably make me skip The Sims5 for years and years and pick up the games when there's a huge sale after several expansions have been out.

    Sims4 was rushed and they didn't listen to the fanbase about single player, which led to changes. They made infant play horrible and instead of better, they took away from many of the pluses in the Sims3. These last few EPs have left stuff out that should've been there. A Sims5 team should go back to Sims 1,2,3, and 4 and expand on all of them to make a better game.
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