What is your reaction to the backlash that caused The Sims 4 Journey to Batoo? I know there are some players enjoying this pack, but majority of fan base didn't like it.
Hello. First of all, welcome to all the new people. I hope you guys come to visit us more often and discover why everyone else loves dragons. We could sure use more people spreading the word of Makin' Magic's Torch. Even if you're not a fan of the occult, dragons are such a nice detail that have only appeared in two games, and they were absolutely butchered in their second appearance.
Now these one are for the devs and EA. First off, thank you for giving us this opportunity. I've had problems with how communication has been handled, but this gesture is much appreciated.
Poorly-Executed Features
My biggest concern is how content is often shallow in comparison to how they were in the past, and it's likely that content will never be updated to meet expectations because it came in a pack. We've been told how it would be a waste of money to because only a fraction of people would buy a given pack, and updates to the base game reach everyone. But now we're left with very flawed packs that will likely never be fixed.
Diving is still a rabbit hole. We're pretty much stuck with that forever now.
Past worlds haven't been updated to handle swimming. I know it must be difficult, but it's been two years since Island Living and we haven't even gotten a single on it.
Potions are poorly-priced. Being able to make a living selling potions was a feature touted during a RoM livestream. First we couldn't even do it because the feature was broken, and when it was fixed, potions were worth less than the ingredients made to create them.
Familiars are just glorified drones; magic is already too easy, and protecting sims from death is pointless because it's ridiculously hard die from magic overload - or any death, for that matter. Instead of having something wonderful and Torch-like, we just have these things.
A lack of inter-pack support. No weather-altering magic if you had Seasons, even though mermaids could control weather if you had Seasons. Occults don't interact with each other.
You missed your chance to add small pets into the pet pack. Now if we want small pets, we're likely going to have to pay for them separately ala MFPS (and after the negative reaction to MFPS, I doubt we're going to get more small pet packs anyway), or hope that you'll randomly decide to include them in the base game nearly four+ after we should have gotten them.
We were told we'd get a cheat to change or reset Sulani's cleanliness state. Two years later and we still don't have anything.
Get to Work doesn't let you have home businesses, and the perk system is inferior to customer satisfaction system from Sims 2.
University is too much like real life, where you're basically too busy with work to enjoy campus life - such as it is. You also need to take three weeks worth of classes to get that diploma and high-paying job, but it's easier, more cost-effective, and less time-consuming to tackle jobs the regular way. I only use University as a way to limit my sims for challenges.
It's demoralizing to see certain gameplay being handled poorly, because odds are, we're basically stuck with it since you guys never go back and fix these. Any fixes and updates we have are so rare and unexpected, we can't reasonably hope to see or expect them.
Hair CASsets
I appreciate the fixes to African-American hairs, baby hairs aside. I also appreciate you adding more black hairstyles and I've been making good use of them. However, I feel like they clash with a lot of the basegame hairs now, and those hairs also need an update. They aged horribly and many of them really need an overhaul, as well.
Also, it would be nice to see more black hairstyles that aren't based on curly hair, braids or dreads. I'd love more of those too, but I'd also like to see some straight and wavy looks that are made with black sims in mind.
Also please stop using baby hairs so much, or at least provide alternative versions of hair that don't use them. They look like Alpha cc and clash with the rest of the hairstyles.
Addressing the Occults
Why have occults taken such a backseat? I know they're relatively niche, but we went from getting them in nearly every pack in past games, to getting one or two every couple of years. I know the idea of wanting quantity over quality, but waiting two years for a chance at one occult if awful. Even worse when they're handled poorly, because they'll likely never be updated.
Witch spells and potions are mostly just cheats for everyday life (and largely recycled from other gameplay.) Very few of them are whimsical and strange. The Magic Realm is also one just lot, three stalls, some open space for duels, and a bunch of non-interactable scenery.
Plantsims are a temporary lifestate and basically amount to a palette swap for your sims. They don't asexually reproduce, they don't make plants grow any faster, they don't have any notable challenges that other sims don't have.
Servos require way too much effort to get. I appreciate trying to add a challenge, but it's so tedious to have everything align. Servos are also not really that impressive, but I can't get into why without comparing them to other games' robots, so.
Aliens don't do much, and their world is just a single lot.
Mermaids suffer from diving being a rabbit hole. They also don't do much besides swim and sing.
Vampires are perfect, though.
Moving forward, it would be nice to see at least one occult life state per year - still a massive downgrade from what we used to have, but a major step up for occult fans.
Also, I want to say thanks for Paranormal Stuff. We rarely get packs that give our occult sims hobbies or careers that relate to their world - they just have to spend their lives, doing only what regular sims do. Not very mythical or interesting. But Paranormal Stuff was a godsend and really improved the depth of my occult sims' lives.
Traits
Traits are fundamentally flawed. Three isn't enough to give our sims a rounded, realistic feel compared to Sims 3. And because we're so limited, why would you waste them on meaningless, niche stuff like Dog Lover? We were told that they were limited in order to keep them from influencing emotions too much and make them unique, but personality should be way more important. The recent trait update and its positive reception shows just how much autonomy, personality and actions trump emotions.
There's also a severe lack of traits in the game. Considering this is out main (only?) course of personality in the game, we should have a wide variety to choose from. Yet despite this, we have about 54~ traits, released across packs and updates across over 6 years. By this time, Sims 3 had 63 traits in its base game, and they let you have five traits.
Then we have purchasable traits, but these don't add to your sim's personality and depth - they're just cheats to make things easier.
Diversity and Inclusion: Representation and Delivery
I also feel like diversity and inclusion get too much attention. I'm bisexual, mixed race and neuro divergent - I get how good it feels to be represented, and I appreciate being able to have different ideas and content in the game. The Sims is the perfect place to explore these things, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.
But it feels like diversity and inclusion are more important to the game than actual gameplay. Legit criticism, ideas and suggestions are rarely addressed, unless it's about inclusion. I remember when EA released that commercial players enjoying Sims 4, and they were all about how they are tragic sexual/racial minorities and need the game to express themselves. Diversity and inclusion are good, but the way it's gone about, it makes it seem like it's the biggest thing in a game, rather than gameplay.
I'd also like to complain about how this inclusion has been added. I know you're limited by time, budget, and EA - inclusion is clearly important to you guys, but you can't include everything and everyone with the snap of your fingers. But at the same time, it feels weird that we usually get these inclusive updates based on whatever's culturally relevant now (a Hispanic update of primarily LatAm culture during Hispanic Heritage month, skin tone updates after the backlash, Asian eye presets during the height of #StopAsianHate), or when it's to be sold. (Japanese culture in Snowy Escape, Hawaiian and Polynesian culture in Island Living.) We've had almost no Native content in the franchise. We haven't had a lot of European culture explored beyond building aesthetics and locations. We need more dragon content. But we did get the Muslim and Caribbean updates for seemingly no other reason to have them, which was great. So what I'm saying is, it would be nice to see updates come without some cultural prompt behind them, because proactive updates feel more genuine. I don't want to wait for a movement to motivate the addition of Native content.
Inclusion and Diversity: Looking at Past Games
Now I want to highlight where diversity has been handled well, and what I'd like to see continue on vs what could be handled better.
Selvadorada was handled well, because we got a fairly solid take on (generic) LatAm culture. It was nice being able to explore the country's food, architecture, mythology music, artifacts, clothing, etc. The culture skill was great. Going to Selvadorada was like visiting my family, except without my grandma trying to hit people with her slippers. Our sims had a reason to immerse themselves in a culture, and teaching the skill meant that sims could share this culture with others. We can not only experience a culture, but actively learn about it on a deeper level, all while still keeping the feel and tone of The Sims. I really hope to get more like that, especially Culture Skills. I'd say JA's biggest flaw is that Selvadorada is not a good place to vacation unless you're actively exploring Archaeology, because there aren't a lot of places for tourists to visit outside of the marketplace.
I know culture wasn't a big theme for Get Together, as it was for Jungle Adventure and Island Living. But it was kind of discouraging that you were playing with (a take on) Germany without really exploring its unique cultures. At least we had the ruins, but those just existed for... modern-day dance parties. It was a regular Sims world, just with a different coat of paint.
Island Living was the same way. We had a great-looking region, with great clothes and architecture. But culture itself felt generic and shallow. The fire dancing was recycled from another pack. The festivals are extremely generic and don't offer much. Kava parties are just regular parties. The neighbors are "friendlier," which just amounts to them coming in uninvited or putting out fires. We have cultural artifacts, but they're just buried in the sand and we don't know anything about Sulani's history. You can't explore the world's history like you could with Jungle Adventure, you can't educate other sims about the culture. We didn't get a Sims-like take on the culture and history like we did in Jungle Adventure. And while I get that the packs had different goals (archaeology and tomb-exploration vs sitting on a towel), it would have been great to have Sulani and its people fleshed out more. It's disappointing that a Game Pack offered more gameplay, lore and detail than an Expansion Pack.
Snowy Escape, too. There were some good aspects, like taking shoes off indoors, spoofing Japanese corporate culture, Tanabata-inspired elements and those wish block thingies. A problem with mixing it with a winter vacation area is how the winter stuff eclipsed the cultural aspect. We didn't have a lot of traditional clothes. The festivals were interesting in theory, but generic and empty in concept. We're missing a lot of traditional items and activities, while Mt. Komorebi is too removed from modern Japan's urban areas to explore that aspect. This goes back to old themes being done poorly and then not being touched upon; we probably won't get more Japanese stuff in the future, so we're stuck with the untapped potential. And if we DO get something, we'll have to pay for it, and it'll only work alongside with Snowy Escape, rather than directly enhancing it.
Also, sims being from different countries/worlds should feel different from regular sims. Aside from having clothes that reflect their culture, they should also eat different foods, not be seen exploring regular neighborhoods (Nalani, why are you in Willow Creek?), and act different. The Culture Skill helped in this area because it allowed sims from other countries to perform interactions related to their culture, and they could teach others about it.
tl;dr: Just copy Jungle Adventure.
Communication with the devs
Not about the game in itself, but I feel like I should throw my 2 cents in. It feels like Twitter is more important to the Gurus. We rarely see gurus on the forum, unless it's to promote a pack or to address major drama. I understand you want to reach a larger audience of fans, but it's discouraging and it feels like we're less important.
We were told about open communication, and we've been getting it. Sometimes. Other times, it's lacking. As an example, we weren't notified about when we were getting the April patch until the day of, instead of the usual week in advance. Letting people know in advance lets them get excited, prep their games for a patch (or to avoid patching) and helps us determine if we should download mods or CC at this time.
Or how about Sims 411? Looking at Twitter and the forums, many people were confused as to what we could even talk about. What we couldn't talk about was clearer. But I noticed that you removed the rule about not talking about past games, which was a pretty difficult rule that limited how we communicated our concerns, so thank you for that.
There's also the feeling that certain sets of fans are more important than others, and I'm not talking about target demographics vs periphery demographics. Fans, including Japanese and Korean fans, were ignored when we had criticisms over how the shrine controversy was handled. While many sides had good points, those set of fans didn't get a word of explanation or acknowledgement. The devs just responded to the first argument and never even addressed the valid complaints others had. (On the forums, we were told you would look into it and discuss it, but we never saw the results of that.) And this was especially distressing because you promised to communicate more not a month before. While I'm sure this was more due to your hands being tied and trying to be sensitive to the concerns of others, it gave off the impression that you only cared about one side of the audience.
The skintone has been an issue for years, but it only got addressed after much backlash. Generally, it seems our wants are only acknowledged if there's a lot of backlash or drama. I understand that talking about future updates and products is a no-go, you can't make too many promises and you want to handle things tactfully. But it honestly feels like we're talking to a brick wall sometimes, and we only get heard when we're practically rioting.
That said, I also want to point out that there have been a lot of improvements. We've been given blogs that discuss the insights and ideas behind the pack-designing process, and that's great. You gave us sneak-peaks to future patches, and that's wonderful. The skin tone update was difficult, but we got multiple updates on its progress & the difficulties it caused, and that's exactly what I'd like to see. There have been some efforts to make things more transparent, and while there's still a lot of ways to go, opening up about these aspects of the game have been really helpful. Thank you for that/
Consequences: Or, the Game is too Easy
This has been a hot topic amongst the community. Things are way too easy and clean in the game. There's very little drama, sims patch things up very easily, there's very little struggling to find your footing in the game, and there are almost no long-term consequences.
As an example, your sim could have an affair. Right in front of their partner. Multiple times in a row. Yet their partner will just get a bad moodlet and you'll lose some (not a lot) of your relationship points with them. You can tell them a couple of jokes to calm them down, and then flirt with them a few times until they're completely over being betrayed by the person they loved most. In The Sims 2, you had the fury system, and their feelings toward you would become so low, you'd have to spend a long time actually trying to make it up your partner to earn back their love and forgiveness.
Sentiments were a step towards addressing this, but they're just short-term memories that give you moodlets. They tell us more about the relationship, but don't go about delving into them.
If a sim just abused a townie, physically attacked them and became their enemy, they'll still be receptive to most friendly interactions and get along well with your sim.
Your witch goes around and sets things on fire, so what? Some people get annoyed and you might lose Reputation if you have Get Famous installed. (Which is easy to get back up anyway, so.) Heck, aside from moodlets that get easily overpowered, no one cares that they discovered an occult sim exists, much less that they're wreaking havoc on the town.
As I said, negative moodlets are easily overpowered by positive ones. Bad moods are meaningless because sims can become happy at the drop of a hat.
Some more stuff that's too small for its own category.
Unlike Sims 2 we don't have multi-purpose lots, where you can make a mall, or a restaurant that doubles as a toy store, or a barber/bakery. Lots in Sims 4 can only do a limited amount of things, based on what they're assigned to, and they all require certain items to even work. It's so regressive, but it hasn't been fixed in 7 years and will probably never be. But I hope that future lot types will be designed with multi-functionality in mind.
Some more stuff that's too small for its own category.
Packs are being released with more and more bugs, and it's taking more time to fix them. As an example, Realm of Magic came with priceless potions, the CAS crashing, spellcaster eyes not working, and other bugs. Aside from the emergency patch to address the CAS crashing, most of the bugs took months to address. A product was shipped with some of its features broken, and it took months to fix them.
The socialization menus are a mess. Navigating all friendly interactions is horrible, and it's even worse if you don't know that they're organized alphabetically. On top of that, many of the dialogue options are completely interchangeable and don't add anything. I get wanting to have a specific discussion between sims, but when the discussions are exactly the same in practice, does it really matter which option you've picked? I feel like "Ask about day," "Ask about weather" and other pointless flavor text could be combined into one "Chat" option, and we can imagine what they're talking about.
I feel like the base game can't handle any more updates. It's clearly straining under all the added content. We also haven't been able to update open waters, add cars, get CASt, CAW or open worlds because the engine is flawed. It feels like we're just getting more stuff piled onto a flawed foundation; it's not fixing the main issues and the whole thing is going to fall down.
Festivals in general are boring. Most of the gameplay behind them are things our sims can already do - flirt with others, enter gaming competitions, build rockets, wear costumes. Once you've seen one festival, you've seen 'em all.
Where are our small telescopes and microscopes? You know people want this - and you guys were willing to try and sell them to us during the last community Stuff Pack vote. I'm glad that didn't come to pass, because we shouldn't have to pay for them. But we still need them.
The game is still missing tons of crucial features, even seven years later. And yet StrangerVille - a guru's pet project - was made before many of them. I understand wanting to try new things, but this should come after we get what we' need.
That said, I want a formal apology for StrangerVille. Not for it being a pet project or trying something new; it was just a bad pack.
Individual bios, please. Every main game had these, and I believe some of the spin-offs did, too. This let us talk about our sims' stories in a way that other gameplay can't. It let us keep notes about them and help us remember what we're planning to do with them. Past games used this to flesh out pre-made sims and make them iconic and memorable. Now all sims have to share a household bio. It's a shame this was cut, because it could easily be merged with the phone or profile panel.
Teens are too close to adults at first glance. While I appreciate being able to use adult clothing on them, instead of needing an entirely separate catalogue, they just look like adults. They're the same height, too. In fact, even if you're going up close and analyzing the sim, you might miss that they're teens. The only way to know for sure if a sim is a teen, is to check the floating markers above their heads.
Anyway, thanks for listening. There's a lot more I want to say, but those are some of the biggest, or easily-addressable concerns I wanted to share. I have IRL kids to take care of, so I can't spend the day adding more stuff, but I might add some things if I think of them.
Post edited by Gordy on
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
Hi Sims team. It would be nice to learn more about process of making new packs, how you decide what stays and what goes, about future plans, will we get more pack from that survey..... It's also always interesting to meet new people from Sims team and to learn about what they do . Keep up with transparency , you are doing much better then when I started playing and it's great to see it.
Hello from Ukraine! I really like Sims 4. But for complete happiness I lack a few things. I really want to be able to adjust the orientation of my sims. And it's not very nice when a guy flirts with my lesbian heroine, and she responds to flirting positively. I would very much like magicians, vampires, mermaids and aliens to be able to love each other without terrible curses ... Sorry, bugs, on their children. I really liked the feature with an impact on the appearance of the city in ecological life. I would like to influence the appearance of all cities, not just one. I vitally lack the number of character traits for sims. Very often I want to choose more than three character traits. I would be very happy if the character traits of the characters expanded.
Sorry for my English. English is not my native language.
Add a selling mat! I want my sims to be able to sell bigger objects (like a bed, bathtub, etc.) during yard sells. This feature should have come with City Living, where sims can buy those items at the flee market. (However, they cannot sell them). OR this should have come with Eco Lifestyle. So my sims could repair and sell the furniture they found in a dumpster or they could sell their crafted furniture from the fabricator. And I want the option to sell furniture added to Plopsy (from Knifty Knitting). It only makes sense for sims to be able to also sell furniture online or during a yard sell!
I’d always thought about this but I really noticed it in my gameplay yesterday, which is convenient timing. I feel as though some gameplay options feel “almost complete” and that your sims don’t really impact anything, they just live in their bubble.
The example that I noticed yesterday is that writers can write and publish books, but the game doesn’t go all the way to offer your sims to buy those books in bookshelves or online or anywhere. Once you publish it, it’s gone forever. I know it’s a small thing, but things like this impact the personalization and charm of the game, to me, over time. Another example could be artist sims who sell paintings being able to spot one of their own at a museum. A small, seemingly unimportant change, but would show that their work goes somewhere and their impact is seen.
There are plenty of other opportunities to increase the sims’ impact on their world and communities besides Action Plans from Eco Living. It doesn’t feel like the sims impact the worlds they live in- it feels like they just happen to be there.
I want to address certain problems I have with the game. I personally can't have any fun with any of the life stages, but with young adult and adults. I feel we need more gameplay focused on other life stages, more FUN gameplay. I feel you guys missed out on the opportunity to express emotions better. I don't think ever sim should have the same relationship level with each other I feel one sim should be able to feel another way about other sim, and that feeling may not always be reprocriated back, I don't think the sims should have the same level of mutual relationship. I honestly want some of my sims to have crushes, and for others to not respond back. I definitely think a main concern that needs to be addressed in the live stream is the currency issue. The price should be the same for everyone, and it shouldn't be fair for someone to pay more or less based on where they live. Currency is not the same everywhere and setting a set price like 5USD is not going to transfer to 5 pounds. My other concern I want you guys to address is babies are you guys currently okay with the state of babies, I know the we the players feel babies need to be fleshed out, but I really want to know what your opinions are on the baby sims. I'm a cheapskate so it's really hard to fork over my money easily sometimes I really unsure if I really want the DLC or am I going to get bored of it easily. I just recently got my first DLC laundry day after months of contemplating on whether I should spend more money, and I really hesitant to buy larger packs. I just think we as the player base wants you to be more honest with us.
I wanted to talk about the LGBTQ community! Specifically about the trans and non-binary sims. We need a pronoun option asap. And not only a pronoun option, but we need frame of the sims to be more gender neutral. The male clothing needs to fit female sims better than just leaving them with a blocky chest. Maybe we could simply have an option to have breasts or not? Since this problem does happen even with the minimum amount of chest.
I am a sims player living in Turkey, and one of the biggest shortcomings in sims 4 is that occult sim / supernatural sims are very few in sims 4 and we want the fairies to come back in sims 4. Please let the fairies come again for The sims 4. Best regards
1. Why are there a severe lack of traits? I was thinking that there should be at least a few every time an expansion is released but we barely get any.
2. Why did you make the decision in locking occult skin details only for occult? I'd like to put some more unique or scary skin details on my non-occult sims. Please let me know if there is a way to unlock them.
3. Was "Fill empty lots" updated or changed recently? A lot of townies moved in to both Oasis Springs and Willow creek but I was not playing in either of those worlds, I Only visited them.
Last I checked, simguru Nick said that it populates houses based on the neighborhood my sim lives in yet it didn't do this for me (ex: sims populated in Oasis Springs in different neighborhoods). Just curious how it works and if it has been changed and also we need more story progression in this game to make the game feel more alive outside of my sims households.
4. I'm curious as to why this game doesn't have more toggles/game options to increase difficulty, randomness and even like game economy (making build items/rent/buying from plopsy more/less expensive)? We all play the sims differently and what I see as annoying gameplay, someone else would probably enjoy it. It would be amazing if you allowed us to choose how much we prefer in our own game.
I understand that the wood-burning cauldron would have an industrial footprint but why does the magic cauldron (and similar fireplace) have the same type of footprint? Wouldn't the magic items at least be neutral? The raison I ask is because the Magical Realm is gettin kinda smoggy and some of the sims are going into coughing fits.
Sul sul! I have a question, are going to improve the townsfolk clothing generator anytime soon? Because I can't it when it's literally middle of the winter and they are walking through town in just socks and with hundreds of earrings. Thank you.
I really enjoy this game and spend about every day playing it! There are a few things that I think would significantly enhance the gameplay, though.
Things like more traits to the base game - man, I miss traits like unlucky, absent-minded, angler, coward, daredevil, easily impressed and many Sims 3 traits.
I'd also like to see the return of favourites and zodiac signs, which would add so much to Sims' personalities! Turn ons and turn offs could be fun too.
I'd also like aspirations to be more in-depth and challenging like they were in The Sims 3. I enjoy aspirations in The Sims 4, but they feel more like tutorials and not goals my Sims have to work towards during their entire life.
I also miss extended family relationships, like in-laws, step-families, great-grandparents and -children, etc. It feels kinda sad that some related Sims consider each other merely acquaintances and I think more relationships in CAS would be great too!
Speaking of families, it would be nice to have things like boarding schools, prom, graduation ceremonies, bachelor/bachelorette parties, canes for elders, midlife crisis, etc.
Other things I'd like to see is more musical instruments like drums and being able to form bands who perform together. How cool would a rock/metal band be?! I'd like to see more occults too, but I'd like them to be as in-depth as vampires and spellcasters.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my comment and I thank the team for everything you do for the game! ♥️
Thank you to give us the opportunity to talk. Well, there is some point I would like to discuss.
1 - Events : I remember once when I started to play there was an event. One character was in game during one (or few) week(s) to ask us to complete a task (to collect some seeds for a mystical tree). I would like to have more events like this.
2 - Relationship, are not easy. I would like for my sims to have some one-side love or friendship. To give some personality to the game. Not have both of the sims to have the same level of feeling. And why not a crush ? Like a sims love another, but he doesn't even know your sims.
3 - I like the lifestyle in snowy escape but I would like more diversity, why not tea fanatic ? Book lover ? And more ?
4 - I would like to set up birthday date as I want. Because a baby can bord on winter and get his birthday in spring. I would like to have my hand on it, and choose the date.0
5 - Don't forget about spiral stair, I'm still waiting ^_^
6 - I saw that you will add more color for hair, but can you think about pastel colors ? Even for objects ?
7 - It is possible to place a small wall against a big one ? Or just move a wall as we want ? I like to do some interiors and sometime I fell a bit frustrated to not realize my thought.
8 - I like plants for gardening, but a lot of them are identical just the fruit make it different. So more realistic and various plants will be welcome. Moreover, I would like to use the product in different way (jam, preserves, candy, ... ) and have an grocery to sell my harvest... or a marked stand.
9 - School : I would like to go to school with my sims kid/teen, or even with my sims in university... I can't enjoy the pleasure to see few sims in class studying and listening teacher.
10 - An office : To do the same task than the work at home but in an office. Like that no issue with toddler that stay at home (why we can send them in daycare in week day ?) and have the pleasure to meet others colleagues.
Well, I may have others concerns, but that's all for today. Thank you again for reading us and good work. :)
Hi Sims! I really enjoy the game, but my experience is not as good as it could be. I need Ukrainian localization for the game. Sometimes I don't get jokes or play on words. Sometimes I even can't understand what is going on in the game. There are about 40 million Ukrainian-speaking people in the world. We deserve to have Ukrainian localization. I appreciate your desire to make the game better and I hope you'll hear your Ukrainian fans. Localization is the most important thing we are waiting for.
One thing I think could bring more inclusión to the game is things like the vampire scars we have. I use them a lot.
Would love to see scratches, scars, birthmarks, bandaids, skin and eye conditions, bruises, skin discolorations and those type of things. Everything I have is cc but it's everyday things that a lot of people have for a lot of different reasons. Would love to see it talked about in the 411!
First of all, I love this game and I think the last few big packs (not kits) that have been released have been amazing and have really impacted gameplay and building!
However I was wondering if the issue about international price conversions for kits will ever be fixed - £5 is significantly more than $5, especially if we want all 3 packs - £15 is closer to $20. This is an issue for other packs as well (£10 and $10 for stuff packs are not the same) but I think it’s a much bigger problem with kits because the amount of content is so small. I’m really hoping this will be fixed because I love the idea of kits, but I can’t justify spending £5 on them, it’s just too much money for what you get! .[/quote] This should be done. It doesn't make sense that we pay so much more only because EA can't do currency exchange. I know this has nothing to do with livestream and gurus, but EA do better
The gender options in The Sims are important to me. Good trans representation isn’t common in the gaming industry, so I value games where it is possible. Is there any interest in expanding these features?
Examples: - Body hair and facial hair for both body types - More gender nonconforming clothing options (Most of the tops look stretched out or lumpy when used on a different body type.) - Ability to change gender through gameplay mechanics - Top surgery scars
I would also love to see more disability representation.
Examples: - Gameplay for visually-impaired, blind, or Deaf Sims - Canes or other mobility aids - Ramps or wheelchair stairlifts (if wheelchairs are introduced, but ramps would be nice in general) - More options for scars - Prosthetic limbs - Vitiligo and other skin conditions
I understand that these all take a lot of time, hard work, and sensitivity to implement correctly. Ideally, you would work with individuals who could contribute their own real life experience and insight during development. I would be interested in learning if there is a chance that more representation for these communities would be included in game.
I wanted to know if the team has thought about adding more consequences to the game. The game feels to happy go lucky. There are not enough negative consequences in the game and the ones that are there are usually player directed and not done autonomously. There are also not many negative traits especially when compared to positive ones. I want the game to feel more real not everything in life is all sunshine and rainbows.
During the laundry list portion of the 411 I'd really like to see some other bugs addressed.
It's nice to know what will be fixed immediately, but I'd also like to see some re-assurance that some bugs (going on years old now in some cases) are still being worked on and not totally forgotten. I know they've said before that they're working on them, or some, but they never specify which ones. I'd like to know some of what is being worked on specifically for future fixes and maybe some more information about why they are taking so long, like needing more saves etc.
As a Simmer that loves playing with occult sims, I've been disappointed in the past with occults that have come in Expansion packs. They lack the quality and focus that occults included in Game packs have. I feel that pushing them into a Expansion pack is what hurt them, and would recommend dedicating a Game pack to individual occults going forward so that other features do not steal their spotlight. Including an entirely new life-state to the game should actually have gravity, and Aliens and Mermaids are very shallow. They could really benefit from having their own perk tree (like Vampire and Spellcaster sims), as well as more social and world interactions that give them more meaningful gameplay. This shallowness also extends to Ghosts and PlantSims. I expected the Paranormal stuff pack to add on to our ghastly friends and perhaps give players more reason to play with them. These two base game occults would also benefit from a perk tree.
Hello.) Thank you so much for opportunity like this. I realy need improving for things that already exist in the game. For example: Play on gitar siting on chair. And if sim can walk and talk with another sim. Jumping on Sofa. Siting on the floor. And the game will be Nice if we can buy clothes in the Shop or using Internet Shop for that, not have all clothes in start our game. I think community needs improve the gameplay that already exist and add more challenge in the game. More interesting social interactions. Cities needs improve, maybe add festivals or mission to make players want to explore the city because now all cities look so beautiful but boring. Add more animations and variations for Base game because now all actions looks leaner. Add more consequences after actions, not only moodlet. And I Kiss you all if you add routine. If we can make algorithm actions for morning or other time.
3. Can we hope to get fairies, werewolves, horses, unicorns some day in the future? Some people say we can't have horses in not open world but I believe there's enough place for them in neighbourhoods. Just don't let them in cities like San Myshuno.
It’s great that you added a lot more skin tones but all the thumbnails in cas all have white skin. White shouldn’t be the default. If it could be based on the sim that we are clothing or some neutral color like gray or something that would be truly inclusive. A lot of what the others said about babies being less boring and lack of LGBTQ+ interactions. I’m sorry to say that the game is boring. I really want to play. I own all of the packs. It’s just hard when I go in game and even though I have the autonomy on full, nothing happens. I have never played any of the other sims games. Having more gossip, having NPC sims being more dynamic, having a better attraction system. Not just romantically but also platonically. Where you can try and be friends with another sim but they just don’t like you. There should be a pre-teen life stage and honestly there really isn’t a ton for the kids, pre-teens, teens to do. There should be a lot more activities. I feel like the other life stages besides adult and young adult get ignored. I don’t want to download mods to do these things. I would gladly pay more to make the game feel more dynamic.
Comments
Now these one are for the devs and EA. First off, thank you for giving us this opportunity. I've had problems with how communication has been handled, but this gesture is much appreciated.
Poorly-Executed Features
It's demoralizing to see certain gameplay being handled poorly, because odds are, we're basically stuck with it since you guys never go back and fix these. Any fixes and updates we have are so rare and unexpected, we can't reasonably hope to see or expect them.
Also, it would be nice to see more black hairstyles that aren't based on curly hair, braids or dreads. I'd love more of those too, but I'd also like to see some straight and wavy looks that are made with black sims in mind.
Also please stop using baby hairs so much, or at least provide alternative versions of hair that don't use them. They look like Alpha cc and clash with the rest of the hairstyles.
Moving forward, it would be nice to see at least one occult life state per year - still a massive downgrade from what we used to have, but a major step up for occult fans.
Also, I want to say thanks for Paranormal Stuff. We rarely get packs that give our occult sims hobbies or careers that relate to their world - they just have to spend their lives, doing only what regular sims do. Not very mythical or interesting. But Paranormal Stuff was a godsend and really improved the depth of my occult sims' lives.
There's also a severe lack of traits in the game. Considering this is out main (only?) course of personality in the game, we should have a wide variety to choose from. Yet despite this, we have about 54~ traits, released across packs and updates across over 6 years. By this time, Sims 3 had 63 traits in its base game, and they let you have five traits.
Then we have purchasable traits, but these don't add to your sim's personality and depth - they're just cheats to make things easier.
But it feels like diversity and inclusion are more important to the game than actual gameplay. Legit criticism, ideas and suggestions are rarely addressed, unless it's about inclusion. I remember when EA released that commercial players enjoying Sims 4, and they were all about how they are tragic sexual/racial minorities and need the game to express themselves. Diversity and inclusion are good, but the way it's gone about, it makes it seem like it's the biggest thing in a game, rather than gameplay.
I'd also like to complain about how this inclusion has been added. I know you're limited by time, budget, and EA - inclusion is clearly important to you guys, but you can't include everything and everyone with the snap of your fingers. But at the same time, it feels weird that we usually get these inclusive updates based on whatever's culturally relevant now (a Hispanic update of primarily LatAm culture during Hispanic Heritage month, skin tone updates after the backlash, Asian eye presets during the height of #StopAsianHate), or when it's to be sold. (Japanese culture in Snowy Escape, Hawaiian and Polynesian culture in Island Living.) We've had almost no Native content in the franchise. We haven't had a lot of European culture explored beyond building aesthetics and locations. We need more dragon content. But we did get the Muslim and Caribbean updates for seemingly no other reason to have them, which was great. So what I'm saying is, it would be nice to see updates come without some cultural prompt behind them, because proactive updates feel more genuine. I don't want to wait for a movement to motivate the addition of Native content.
Selvadorada was handled well, because we got a fairly solid take on (generic) LatAm culture. It was nice being able to explore the country's food, architecture, mythology music, artifacts, clothing, etc. The culture skill was great. Going to Selvadorada was like visiting my family, except without my grandma trying to hit people with her slippers. Our sims had a reason to immerse themselves in a culture, and teaching the skill meant that sims could share this culture with others. We can not only experience a culture, but actively learn about it on a deeper level, all while still keeping the feel and tone of The Sims. I really hope to get more like that, especially Culture Skills. I'd say JA's biggest flaw is that Selvadorada is not a good place to vacation unless you're actively exploring Archaeology, because there aren't a lot of places for tourists to visit outside of the marketplace.
I know culture wasn't a big theme for Get Together, as it was for Jungle Adventure and Island Living. But it was kind of discouraging that you were playing with (a take on) Germany without really exploring its unique cultures. At least we had the ruins, but those just existed for... modern-day dance parties. It was a regular Sims world, just with a different coat of paint.
Island Living was the same way. We had a great-looking region, with great clothes and architecture. But culture itself felt generic and shallow. The fire dancing was recycled from another pack. The festivals are extremely generic and don't offer much. Kava parties are just regular parties. The neighbors are "friendlier," which just amounts to them coming in uninvited or putting out fires. We have cultural artifacts, but they're just buried in the sand and we don't know anything about Sulani's history. You can't explore the world's history like you could with Jungle Adventure, you can't educate other sims about the culture. We didn't get a Sims-like take on the culture and history like we did in Jungle Adventure. And while I get that the packs had different goals (archaeology and tomb-exploration vs sitting on a towel), it would have been great to have Sulani and its people fleshed out more. It's disappointing that a Game Pack offered more gameplay, lore and detail than an Expansion Pack.
Snowy Escape, too. There were some good aspects, like taking shoes off indoors, spoofing Japanese corporate culture, Tanabata-inspired elements and those wish block thingies. A problem with mixing it with a winter vacation area is how the winter stuff eclipsed the cultural aspect. We didn't have a lot of traditional clothes. The festivals were interesting in theory, but generic and empty in concept. We're missing a lot of traditional items and activities, while Mt. Komorebi is too removed from modern Japan's urban areas to explore that aspect. This goes back to old themes being done poorly and then not being touched upon; we probably won't get more Japanese stuff in the future, so we're stuck with the untapped potential. And if we DO get something, we'll have to pay for it, and it'll only work alongside with Snowy Escape, rather than directly enhancing it.
Also, sims being from different countries/worlds should feel different from regular sims. Aside from having clothes that reflect their culture, they should also eat different foods, not be seen exploring regular neighborhoods (Nalani, why are you in Willow Creek?), and act different. The Culture Skill helped in this area because it allowed sims from other countries to perform interactions related to their culture, and they could teach others about it.
tl;dr: Just copy Jungle Adventure.
We were told about open communication, and we've been getting it. Sometimes. Other times, it's lacking. As an example, we weren't notified about when we were getting the April patch until the day of, instead of the usual week in advance. Letting people know in advance lets them get excited, prep their games for a patch (or to avoid patching) and helps us determine if we should download mods or CC at this time.
Or how about Sims 411? Looking at Twitter and the forums, many people were confused as to what we could even talk about. What we couldn't talk about was clearer. But I noticed that you removed the rule about not talking about past games, which was a pretty difficult rule that limited how we communicated our concerns, so thank you for that.
There's also the feeling that certain sets of fans are more important than others, and I'm not talking about target demographics vs periphery demographics. Fans, including Japanese and Korean fans, were ignored when we had criticisms over how the shrine controversy was handled. While many sides had good points, those set of fans didn't get a word of explanation or acknowledgement. The devs just responded to the first argument and never even addressed the valid complaints others had. (On the forums, we were told you would look into it and discuss it, but we never saw the results of that.) And this was especially distressing because you promised to communicate more not a month before. While I'm sure this was more due to your hands being tied and trying to be sensitive to the concerns of others, it gave off the impression that you only cared about one side of the audience.
The skintone has been an issue for years, but it only got addressed after much backlash. Generally, it seems our wants are only acknowledged if there's a lot of backlash or drama. I understand that talking about future updates and products is a no-go, you can't make too many promises and you want to handle things tactfully. But it honestly feels like we're talking to a brick wall sometimes, and we only get heard when we're practically rioting.
That said, I also want to point out that there have been a lot of improvements. We've been given blogs that discuss the insights and ideas behind the pack-designing process, and that's great. You gave us sneak-peaks to future patches, and that's wonderful. The skin tone update was difficult, but we got multiple updates on its progress & the difficulties it caused, and that's exactly what I'd like to see. There have been some efforts to make things more transparent, and while there's still a lot of ways to go, opening up about these aspects of the game have been really helpful. Thank you for that/
As an example, your sim could have an affair. Right in front of their partner. Multiple times in a row. Yet their partner will just get a bad moodlet and you'll lose some (not a lot) of your relationship points with them. You can tell them a couple of jokes to calm them down, and then flirt with them a few times until they're completely over being betrayed by the person they loved most. In The Sims 2, you had the fury system, and their feelings toward you would become so low, you'd have to spend a long time actually trying to make it up your partner to earn back their love and forgiveness.
Sentiments were a step towards addressing this, but they're just short-term memories that give you moodlets. They tell us more about the relationship, but don't go about delving into them.
If a sim just abused a townie, physically attacked them and became their enemy, they'll still be receptive to most friendly interactions and get along well with your sim.
Your witch goes around and sets things on fire, so what? Some people get annoyed and you might lose Reputation if you have Get Famous installed. (Which is easy to get back up anyway, so.) Heck, aside from moodlets that get easily overpowered, no one cares that they discovered an occult sim exists, much less that they're wreaking havoc on the town.
As I said, negative moodlets are easily overpowered by positive ones. Bad moods are meaningless because sims can become happy at the drop of a hat.
Some more stuff that's too small for its own category.
Packs are being released with more and more bugs, and it's taking more time to fix them. As an example, Realm of Magic came with priceless potions, the CAS crashing, spellcaster eyes not working, and other bugs. Aside from the emergency patch to address the CAS crashing, most of the bugs took months to address. A product was shipped with some of its features broken, and it took months to fix them.
Anyway, thanks for listening. There's a lot more I want to say, but those are some of the biggest, or easily-addressable concerns I wanted to share. I have IRL kids to take care of, so I can't spend the day adding more stuff, but I might add some things if I think of them.
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
It would be nice to learn more about process of making new packs, how you decide what stays and what goes, about future plans, will we get more pack from that survey..... It's also always interesting to meet new people from Sims team and to learn about what they do . Keep up with transparency , you are doing much better then when I started playing and it's great to see it.
I really like Sims 4. But for complete happiness I lack a few things.
I really want to be able to adjust the orientation of my sims. And it's not very nice when a guy flirts with my lesbian heroine, and she responds to flirting positively.
I would very much like magicians, vampires, mermaids and aliens to be able to love each other without terrible curses ... Sorry, bugs, on their children.
I really liked the feature with an impact on the appearance of the city in ecological life. I would like to influence the appearance of all cities, not just one.
I vitally lack the number of character traits for sims. Very often I want to choose more than three character traits. I would be very happy if the character traits of the characters expanded.
Sorry for my English. English is not my native language.
Add a selling mat!
I want my sims to be able to sell bigger objects (like a bed, bathtub, etc.) during yard sells.
This feature should have come with City Living, where sims can buy those items at the flee market. (However, they cannot sell them).
OR this should have come with Eco Lifestyle. So my sims could repair and sell the furniture they found in a dumpster or they could sell their crafted furniture from the fabricator.
And I want the option to sell furniture added to Plopsy (from Knifty Knitting). It only makes sense for sims to be able to also sell furniture online or during a yard sell!
The example that I noticed yesterday is that writers can write and publish books, but the game doesn’t go all the way to offer your sims to buy those books in bookshelves or online or anywhere. Once you publish it, it’s gone forever. I know it’s a small thing, but things like this impact the personalization and charm of the game, to me, over time. Another example could be artist sims who sell paintings being able to spot one of their own at a museum. A small, seemingly unimportant change, but would show that their work goes somewhere and their impact is seen.
There are plenty of other opportunities to increase the sims’ impact on their world and communities besides Action Plans from Eco Living. It doesn’t feel like the sims impact the worlds they live in- it feels like they just happen to be there.
I wanted to talk about the LGBTQ community! Specifically about the trans and non-binary sims. We need a pronoun option asap. And not only a pronoun option, but we need frame of the sims to be more gender neutral. The male clothing needs to fit female sims better than just leaving them with a blocky chest. Maybe we could simply have an option to have breasts or not? Since this problem does happen even with the minimum amount of chest.
Anyways, thank you for reading my comment!
I am a sims player living in Turkey, and one of the biggest shortcomings in sims 4 is that occult sim / supernatural sims are very few in sims 4 and we want the fairies to come back in sims 4. Please let the fairies come again for The sims 4.
Best regards
1. Why are there a severe lack of traits? I was thinking that there should be at least a few every time an expansion is released but we barely get any.
2. Why did you make the decision in locking occult skin details only for occult? I'd like to put some more unique or scary skin details on my non-occult sims. Please let me know if there is a way to unlock them.
3. Was "Fill empty lots" updated or changed recently? A lot of townies moved in to both Oasis Springs and Willow creek but I was not playing in either of those worlds, I Only visited them.
Last I checked, simguru Nick said that it populates houses based on the neighborhood my sim lives in yet it didn't do this for me (ex: sims populated in Oasis Springs in different neighborhoods). Just curious how it works and if it has been changed and also we need more story progression in this game to make the game feel more alive outside of my sims households.
4. I'm curious as to why this game doesn't have more toggles/game options to increase difficulty, randomness and even like game economy (making build items/rent/buying from plopsy more/less expensive)? We all play the sims differently and what I see as annoying gameplay, someone else would probably enjoy it. It would be amazing if you allowed us to choose how much we prefer in our own game.
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I play on console and PC now! YAY!
I have a question, are going to improve the townsfolk clothing generator anytime soon? Because I can't it when it's literally middle of the winter and they are walking through town in just socks and with hundreds of earrings. Thank you.
Things like more traits to the base game - man, I miss traits like unlucky, absent-minded, angler, coward, daredevil, easily impressed and many Sims 3 traits.
I'd also like to see the return of favourites and zodiac signs, which would add so much to Sims' personalities! Turn ons and turn offs could be fun too.
I'd also like aspirations to be more in-depth and challenging like they were in The Sims 3. I enjoy aspirations in The Sims 4, but they feel more like tutorials and not goals my Sims have to work towards during their entire life.
I also miss extended family relationships, like in-laws, step-families, great-grandparents and -children, etc. It feels kinda sad that some related Sims consider each other merely acquaintances and I think more relationships in CAS would be great too!
Speaking of families, it would be nice to have things like boarding schools, prom, graduation ceremonies, bachelor/bachelorette parties, canes for elders, midlife crisis, etc.
Other things I'd like to see is more musical instruments like drums and being able to form bands who perform together. How cool would a rock/metal band be?! I'd like to see more occults too, but I'd like them to be as in-depth as vampires and spellcasters.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my comment and I thank the team for everything you do for the game! ♥️
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Well, there is some point I would like to discuss.
1 - Events : I remember once when I started to play there was an event. One character was in game during one (or few) week(s) to ask us to complete a task (to collect some seeds for a mystical tree). I would like to have more events like this.
2 - Relationship, are not easy. I would like for my sims to have some one-side love or friendship. To give some personality to the game. Not have both of the sims to have the same level of feeling. And why not a crush ? Like a sims love another, but he doesn't even know your sims.
3 - I like the lifestyle in snowy escape but I would like more diversity, why not tea fanatic ? Book lover ? And more ?
4 - I would like to set up birthday date as I want. Because a baby can bord on winter and get his birthday in spring. I would like to have my hand on it, and choose the date.0
5 - Don't forget about spiral stair, I'm still waiting ^_^
6 - I saw that you will add more color for hair, but can you think about pastel colors ? Even for objects ?
7 - It is possible to place a small wall against a big one ? Or just move a wall as we want ? I like to do some interiors and sometime I fell a bit frustrated to not realize my thought.
8 - I like plants for gardening, but a lot of them are identical just the fruit make it different. So more realistic and various plants will be welcome. Moreover, I would like to use the product in different way (jam, preserves, candy, ... ) and have an grocery to sell my harvest... or a marked stand.
9 - School : I would like to go to school with my sims kid/teen, or even with my sims in university... I can't enjoy the pleasure to see few sims in class studying and listening teacher.
10 - An office : To do the same task than the work at home but in an office. Like that no issue with toddler that stay at home (why we can send them in daycare in week day ?) and have the pleasure to meet others colleagues.
Well, I may have others concerns, but that's all for today. Thank you again for reading us and good work. :)
Would love to see scratches, scars, birthmarks, bandaids, skin and eye conditions, bruises, skin discolorations and those type of things. Everything I have is cc but it's everyday things that a lot of people have for a lot of different reasons. Would love to see it talked about in the 411!
First of all, I love this game and I think the last few big packs (not kits) that have been released have been amazing and have really impacted gameplay and building!
However I was wondering if the issue about international price conversions for kits will ever be fixed - £5 is significantly more than $5, especially if we want all 3 packs - £15 is closer to $20. This is an issue for other packs as well (£10 and $10 for stuff packs are not the same) but I think it’s a much bigger problem with kits because the amount of content is so small. I’m really hoping this will be fixed because I love the idea of kits, but I can’t justify spending £5 on them, it’s just too much money for what you get!
.[/quote]
This should be done. It doesn't make sense that we pay so much more only because EA can't do currency exchange. I know this has nothing to do with livestream and gurus, but EA do better
Examples:
- Body hair and facial hair for both body types
- More gender nonconforming clothing options (Most of the tops look stretched out or lumpy when used on a different body type.)
- Ability to change gender through gameplay mechanics
- Top surgery scars
I would also love to see more disability representation.
Examples:
- Gameplay for visually-impaired, blind, or Deaf Sims
- Canes or other mobility aids
- Ramps or wheelchair stairlifts (if wheelchairs are introduced, but ramps would be nice in general)
- More options for scars
- Prosthetic limbs
- Vitiligo and other skin conditions
I understand that these all take a lot of time, hard work, and sensitivity to implement correctly. Ideally, you would work with individuals who could contribute their own real life experience and insight during development. I would be interested in learning if there is a chance that more representation for these communities would be included in game.
I wanted to know if the team has thought about adding more consequences to the game. The game feels to happy go lucky. There are not enough negative consequences in the game and the ones that are there are usually player directed and not done autonomously. There are also not many negative traits especially when compared to positive ones. I want the game to feel more real not everything in life is all sunshine and rainbows.
Thank you for taking the time to read my comment!
It's nice to know what will be fixed immediately, but I'd also like to see some re-assurance that some bugs (going on years old now in some cases) are still being worked on and not totally forgotten. I know they've said before that they're working on them, or some, but they never specify which ones. I'd like to know some of what is being worked on specifically for future fixes and maybe some more information about why they are taking so long, like needing more saves etc.
Play on gitar siting on chair.
And if sim can walk and talk with another sim.
Jumping on Sofa. Siting on the floor.
And the game will be Nice if we can buy clothes in the Shop or using Internet Shop for that, not have all clothes in start our game.
I think community needs improve the gameplay that already exist and add more challenge in the game.
More interesting social interactions.
Cities needs improve, maybe add festivals or mission to make players want to explore the city because now all cities look so beautiful but boring.
Add more animations and variations for Base game because now all actions looks leaner.
Add more consequences after actions, not only moodlet.
And I Kiss you all if you add routine. If we can make algorithm actions for morning or other time.
A lot of what the others said about babies being less boring and lack of LGBTQ+ interactions.
I’m sorry to say that the game is boring. I really want to play. I own all of the packs. It’s just hard when I go in game and even though I have the autonomy on full, nothing happens. I have never played any of the other sims games. Having more gossip, having NPC sims being more dynamic, having a better attraction system. Not just romantically but also platonically. Where you can try and be friends with another sim but they just don’t like you. There should be a pre-teen life stage and honestly there really isn’t a ton for the kids, pre-teens, teens to do. There should be a lot more activities. I feel like the other life stages besides adult and young adult get ignored. I don’t want to download mods to do these things. I would gladly pay more to make the game feel more dynamic.