I can't wait to see how much more buggy this will become in the next few years. Oh boy, as someone who doesn't play the Sims 4 much anymore this will be absolutely entertaining.
There are much better games out there: Minecraft...the Animal Crossing games...Tomodachi Life...and Miitopia is coming on May 21. Even Roblox has some games that are better than Sims 4.And I'm looking forward to hearing any news about the life sim game Paradox Games is working on(if they're still planning it,that is).
For me, it was pricey because I bought a lot of DLC all around the same time, but if you took that all and divided it out across 7 years - it's cheap.
I found the cost was a lot more bearable by generally waiting for a sale. Although more recently I've been buying stuff that hooks my interest right away when it's new. But I was late to the Sims 4 game—picked it up when it was on sale at a deep discount in December of '18—and that meant most stuff I could get for cheap(-ish.)
I started playing at the same time you did. December of '18, so I got the base game for $5. And other than Romantic Garden (because it was one of my first packs and an impulse by) and Paranormal Stuff (because I already knew I wanted it) I've never paid full price for a pack. And some I actually won via Giveaways/CAS Contests.
So for me, the cost was quite bearable too. I guess we're just more patient than most people? But I also suppose that's why I'm not quite as critical of the game as other people are. Because I choose to wait and buy packs when they go on sale. So I have to gauge whether they're worth $5-$7.50 (Stuff Pack sales)
$10-$15 (Game Pack sales)
$20 (Expansion Pack sales)
Rather than $10, $20, and $40 respectively.
And well, although Kits are a controversial subject for most people, I personally don't have an issue with the price point (even though I typically get SPs for the same price) because I get Starbucks pretty regularly, and that tends to run me about $6 or $7 depending on what customizations I get.
I am ready for it to end so I can enjoy mods without having them broken by updates.
If they are going to go on for another game generation, they had better add more depth to social interactions, life stages, traits, whims, emergent game play, transportation, worlds, NPCs, the weaker Supernaturals, etc.
Piling on more content flavoring to a very weak base game is just milking the franchise.
I am happy to see that they are going back and improving certain things and I hope that this is a trend which continues.
I also hope they don't keep nerfing things, that is a trend which needs to stop.
I am mostly happy with the game, so I would like to see more content coming and more improvements and bug fixes. Most importantly, the improvements and bug fixes.
That's fine! I will stick with the sims 4 even after the sims 5 is released until at least they have a few expansions for sims 5 then I will probably switch over! Maybe...
I don't mind at all that the game will continue on. There's a lot of content in TS4 that I would have a really hard time letting go of for a new game.
I think Maxis has been making a lot of really good changes lately as well and I hope they continue to do so despite the complaints of the canceling Crumplebottoms. I just want to see the devs stay true to the series as an entertaining game that is unafraid to explore the potentials, risks, failures and low moments of life with satire and continue to allow the players the freedom to be "God" of our own worlds and make our own choices, whatever those choices may be.
I don't mind at all that the game will continue on. There's a lot of content in TS4 that I would have a really hard time letting go of for a new game.
A lot of people say this but thing is, your content won't dissapear if a new sims game comes out. It will still be there. You don't have to let go of anything at all actually. Nobody is taking anything away from your library.
I am very happy about this. The more I hear from Maxis in interviews about Sims 5 the more I doubt it will even vaguely interest me because online multiplayer doesn’t appeal to me at all and that sounds pretty definite at this point. So I am happy to have 4 continue for quite awhile. I enjoy the game very much and am eager to see what else they can do with it.
Honestly, I'm just done. The game has become so stale and boring to me. Nothing is ever improved gameplay wise, its very empty and full of fluff, and so is every dlc...plus the glitches, the simulation lag.... It's not worth it. I'd rather forget about it and play TS3 and TS2. And I can't mentally and physically understand how this game is going to go on for more than 2 years, in the state that it is in. The latest pack barely fixed any bugs.
From what I’ve heard about sims 5 being possible multiplayer i would rather the franchise end on 4. However 4 seems to be coming to the end of the road, I love the game but it’s getting buggier and buggier with every pack and patch and we are nearly at the point of sims 3 when that ended with all its bugs and lags. I feel realistically this game has one more year left after this year and then it should call it a day. I really really hope the rumours of an online sims 5 are not true.
honestly the longer they wait to release a new improved game the more likely I am to put this game down for good. I am just so bored with all the same mismatched build items and glitchy game play.
I don't mind at all that the game will continue on. There's a lot of content in TS4 that I would have a really hard time letting go of for a new game.
A lot of people say this but thing is, your content won't dissapear if a new sims game comes out. It will still be there. You don't have to let go of anything at all actually. Nobody is taking anything away from your library.
While that's true in a literal sense, it doesn't quite work that way. I adore Sims 2 and still want to play it but my PC system crashes it and I've looked up troubleshooting and made adjustments and blah, blah and it just doesn't play the same way. So here I am, not enjoying it. But I at least have those discs just in case I decide to go "retro game" it and get a cheapy laptop or something with an old Windows XP system installed. We never know where technology will take us.
The second thing is, I might want better gameplay and newer features but my Vampires, Spellcasters, Scoundrels, Haunts, etc, etc, will still be back in Sims 4 and I know by now that packs don't repeat, features change, development takes new turns, and decisions aren't always in my favor. Vampires is my favorite Sims pack of all time. I don't ever expect it to be done this well again, and with the way cancel culture is going, Vampires will probably become banned altogether from future versions or softened down to little fuzzy bat people. No thank you. I would rather the effort for new features be put into TS4 and parts of the game rebuilt for improvement. When a new version comes out, the old one stops being developed. Look what happened to Sims 3 and how that was left a heaping mess for a lot of people. Not looking forward to the End Times. And who is to say that the next game will be one I want to play? I couldn't stand Sims 3 so I stayed with TS2, but that game did not leave me wanting because the features were full and satisfying. I want TS4 to have that fulfillment before moving on. It doesn't have to be exactly in "the Sims 2 way", but in its own way and I feel that it's definitely possible.
I know a new version will happen eventually, nothing lasts forever, but I would prefer to have TS4 improved instead. I don't care about Open World, I don't care about CaSt, I don't care about Story Progression or CAW or any of those types of things that some people are hoping for in the next iteration that would pretty much require a whole new engine. I just want some deeper content, more behavior changes for Sims, more Traits, Fears, Whims overhaul, real Aspirations, relationship builds, negative outcomes, things like that. Things I think they can do with this game now, the one we have.
Just a thought..... Sounds like the windows operating system doesn't recognize your older game. Have you tried installing a second operating system on your computer, such as windows XP that the sims 2 is more compatible with? You'll be able to choose upon each PC restart which operating system to load up. Windows XP, or Windows 10.
I remember back in Window XP times I had to download a particular file to allow Nintendo games to be installed/and work on my computer (such as Mario, Zelda) because XP didn't support dos based programs.
Just a thought..... Sounds like the windows operating system doesn't recognize your older game. Have you tried installing a second operating system on your computer, such as windows XP that the sims 2 is more compatible with? You'll be able to choose upon each PC restart which operating system to load up. Windows XP, or Windows 10.
I remember back in Window XP times I had to download a particular file to allow Nintendo games to be installed/and work on my computer (such as Mario, Zelda) because XP didn't support dos based programs.
I only really tried installing from Origin when I heard they had updated it a bit for newer systems and some people were able to play it with some tweaks. If I remember right, I had it working but the Sims had this black shadow box underneath them so I had to fiddle with some PC settings. I'd gotten the black box to disappear from underneath the Sims but the game crashed after 10 minutes or so and I got tired of troubleshooting.
Thanks for your suggestion, it's definitely something to consider for the future, when I'm ready to try to wrangle with it again. There are a couple of other games I'd like to revisit as well that could benefit from that. I still have all of my old CC saved on an old external hard drive so using the discs for installation might be better anyway.
I so don't want it to end so I'm good with it lasting many, many more years. There is still so much more content that I want in the game and upgrades too. I could make a pretty long list of things still left to add and tweak or change. I'm also good with new unexpected content.. it usually ends up being something I didn't know I needed.
I do like the updates and upgrades and for me it's telling that they put effort into adding those things like building tools, sentiments, engine changes, CAS upgrades ect.. Things are coming to the base game frequently and the most recent nods at things they know the community is requesting means to me they are probably working on it or have it in their queue to work on. It takes years .. like toddlers did.
In my mind as long as they keep supporting it it will be upgraded for new systems. Who knows, maybe they can actually keep it up while producing another sim series to keep that money coming in from various games that are still alive. Instead of dropping it like a hot potato like in the past. Hopefully it's the new way. It satisfies those that enjoy the game and keeps new simmers coming in because they won't be afraid it will be abandoned.... and if you get them hooked at a reduced price, they will either pay full price for content that interest them or shop sales. Either way.. more simmers maintained and introduced, more profits... game stays alive.
We were told something along the lines that the game would be produced as long as it made sense too .. way, way back when all the craziness was still on the forums and those that didn't like the game were carrying pitchforks. I guess they meant it because it still kept going and looks like it still will.
I'm still not having problems running the game, at all. It still runs great for me on my "gaming" desktop from 2014... outdated now. Hopefully I'll get a new system in the next year but I'm not worried about it. I also do have some bugs but like always they aren't game breaking for me. I've been lucky with that.
Lawd...I removed my mods so I could build some houses and share them, but while testing them I had so many bugs. In just a span of a couple of minutes. I don't know how people play without mods because that drove me crazy so fast.
I don't think this game can handle many more years. I hope they're hiring people to upgrade or fix the engine because it's broken and keeps getting more broken with each pack and update. The current team doesn't have the skills to keep this thing going.
In my mind as long as they keep supporting it it will be upgraded for new systems.
@Hermitgirl It's already having problems running on a lot of people's PCs because of how old it is. It can barely utilize the power modern PCs have and it even causes problems a lot of times because of the bad optimization. This is something they can not fix that easily at all.
Also the game has a certain amount of memory it can use while running and this amount is limited. So the more DLC and packs they release and the more cluttered the game becomes, the more difficult it will become to run it without issues and this is something that cannot always be fixed by buying a more powerful PC. It doesn't matter if you have 16GB of RAM, if the game can only utilize 8GB then you cannot fix memory problems.
And last but not least the bugs. There is no question the team is having issues with the "spaghetti-code" they have created over the years. Bugs are more prominent than ever and the more content they add, the more bugs will come. The most concerning thing is that there are numerous bugs that EA said they "cannot fix".
So even if it sounds like a great thing to have a game that keeps being updated for decades, reality is that computers are much more complicated and have a lot of issues that cannot be fixed that easily and if the game wasn't originally designed to go for such a long time then it'll be even worse.
In my mind as long as they keep supporting it it will be upgraded for new systems.
@Hermitgirl It's already having problems running on a lot of people's PCs because of how old it is. It can barely utilize the power modern PCs have and it even causes problems a lot of times because of the bad optimization. This is something they can not fix that easily at all.
Also the game has a certain amount of memory it can use while running and this amount is limited. So the more DLC and packs they release and the more cluttered the game becomes, the more difficult it will become to run it without issues and this is something that cannot always be fixed by buying a more powerful PC. It doesn't matter if you have 16GB of RAM, if the game can only utilize 8GB then you cannot fix memory problems.
And last but not least the bugs. There is no question the team is having issues with the "spaghetti-code" they have created over the years. Bugs are more prominent than ever and the more content they add, the more bugs will come. The most concerning thing is that there are numerous bugs that EA said they "cannot fix".
So even if it sounds like a great thing to have a game that keeps being updated for decades, reality is that computers are much more complicated and have a lot of issues that cannot be fixed that easily and if the game wasn't originally designed to go for such a long time then it'll be even worse.
You're probably right about the comment I made that you outlined, it's opinion and I'm not that tech savvy. I do absolutely know my game runs very smoothly, loading times are as brisk as when the game came out. I have a computer that is old but still meets the specs the game requires. My bugs are minimal and I don't use mods .. well usually unless I just want to play around with them for a short time. I don't use "fix" mods at all, only maintain my game in ways that keep it running well (clearing cache, screenshots, keeping sim population as suggested by the game).
I have faith that they will know when the game needs to end as long as people are using the systems required. If they don't well I think I will know when to stop adding to my game. So so far so good with me as I said.
I know you don't want it to continue, believe me I see the comments. I just don't agree with them.
If they add some important features that would allow me to be more creative, I would again play Sims 4.
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I don’t believe the sims 4 will last another 7 years. I don’t think that’s possible. I have an nvidia RTX 2030 and my sims 4 game has simulation lag and sometimes God Awful frame rate. That shouldn’t be the case when literally every other game I own runs great and most are way more demanding. I don’t have mods or cc. I have a friend with the same graphics card who has the same issue. I csn run all four sims game on my computer and by far the sims 4 has the worst performance.
I remember the former CM stating in now deleted tweets that unfortunately some bugs couldn’t be fixed. And you only have to look at how often the same bugs keep popping up time and time again. (Hello, musical chairs and obsessive water drinking!)
I've just come back from a recent break and I see that it's definitely still going. Honestly I'm receptive to this and I think they can do a lot with rebranding. My main reasoning is that I have an elaborate and established game. I like being able to pick back up where I left off.
I don’t believe the sims 4 will last another 7 years. I don’t think that’s possible. I have an nvidia RTX 2030 and my sims 4 game has simulation lag and sometimes God Awful frame rate. That shouldn’t be the case when literally every other game I own runs great and most are way more demanding. I don’t have mods or cc. I have a friend with the same graphics card who has the same issue. I csn run all four sims game on my computer and by far the sims 4 has the worst performance.
I remember the former CM stating in now deleted tweets that unfortunately some bugs couldn’t be fixed. And you only have to look at how often the same bugs keep popping up time and time again. (Hello, musical chairs and obsessive water drinking!)
Do you remember which bugs that they mentioned?
They have said that they are looking into simulation lag for example but that's one bug that I think will probably never be fixed, the game has too much it needs to process so people with simpler cpus are going to suffer from simulation lag.
Sims4 finally runs okay for me but I have to turn off vsync and run it on my new RTX3080 and that's just ridiculous. On my old 1080 I could sometimes get framedrops as low as 40 fps.
That's why I hope that they will take elelunicy's question from sims411 into consideration and look into upgrading the game's graphics API. DirectX9 is too old now.
One thing that also worries me with them extending the sims4's lifespan for many more years are that modders are not going to want to keep making mods for this game.
Comments
There are much better games out there: Minecraft...the Animal Crossing games...Tomodachi Life...and Miitopia is coming on May 21. Even Roblox has some games that are better than Sims 4.And I'm looking forward to hearing any news about the life sim game Paradox Games is working on(if they're still planning it,that is).
I started playing at the same time you did. December of '18, so I got the base game for $5. And other than Romantic Garden (because it was one of my first packs and an impulse by) and Paranormal Stuff (because I already knew I wanted it) I've never paid full price for a pack. And some I actually won via Giveaways/CAS Contests.
So for me, the cost was quite bearable too. I guess we're just more patient than most people? But I also suppose that's why I'm not quite as critical of the game as other people are. Because I choose to wait and buy packs when they go on sale. So I have to gauge whether they're worth $5-$7.50 (Stuff Pack sales)
$10-$15 (Game Pack sales)
$20 (Expansion Pack sales)
Rather than $10, $20, and $40 respectively.
And well, although Kits are a controversial subject for most people, I personally don't have an issue with the price point (even though I typically get SPs for the same price) because I get Starbucks pretty regularly, and that tends to run me about $6 or $7 depending on what customizations I get.
If they are going to go on for another game generation, they had better add more depth to social interactions, life stages, traits, whims, emergent game play, transportation, worlds, NPCs, the weaker Supernaturals, etc.
Piling on more content flavoring to a very weak base game is just milking the franchise.
I also hope they don't keep nerfing things, that is a trend which needs to stop.
I am mostly happy with the game, so I would like to see more content coming and more improvements and bug fixes. Most importantly, the improvements and bug fixes.
I think Maxis has been making a lot of really good changes lately as well and I hope they continue to do so despite the complaints of the canceling Crumplebottoms. I just want to see the devs stay true to the series as an entertaining game that is unafraid to explore the potentials, risks, failures and low moments of life with satire and continue to allow the players the freedom to be "God" of our own worlds and make our own choices, whatever those choices may be.
A lot of people say this but thing is, your content won't dissapear if a new sims game comes out. It will still be there. You don't have to let go of anything at all actually. Nobody is taking anything away from your library.
Challenges: Builder's Wanted!!!
While that's true in a literal sense, it doesn't quite work that way. I adore Sims 2 and still want to play it but my PC system crashes it and I've looked up troubleshooting and made adjustments and blah, blah and it just doesn't play the same way. So here I am, not enjoying it. But I at least have those discs just in case I decide to go "retro game" it and get a cheapy laptop or something with an old Windows XP system installed. We never know where technology will take us.
The second thing is, I might want better gameplay and newer features but my Vampires, Spellcasters, Scoundrels, Haunts, etc, etc, will still be back in Sims 4 and I know by now that packs don't repeat, features change, development takes new turns, and decisions aren't always in my favor. Vampires is my favorite Sims pack of all time. I don't ever expect it to be done this well again, and with the way cancel culture is going, Vampires will probably become banned altogether from future versions or softened down to little fuzzy bat people. No thank you. I would rather the effort for new features be put into TS4 and parts of the game rebuilt for improvement. When a new version comes out, the old one stops being developed. Look what happened to Sims 3 and how that was left a heaping mess for a lot of people. Not looking forward to the End Times. And who is to say that the next game will be one I want to play? I couldn't stand Sims 3 so I stayed with TS2, but that game did not leave me wanting because the features were full and satisfying. I want TS4 to have that fulfillment before moving on. It doesn't have to be exactly in "the Sims 2 way", but in its own way and I feel that it's definitely possible.
I know a new version will happen eventually, nothing lasts forever, but I would prefer to have TS4 improved instead. I don't care about Open World, I don't care about CaSt, I don't care about Story Progression or CAW or any of those types of things that some people are hoping for in the next iteration that would pretty much require a whole new engine. I just want some deeper content, more behavior changes for Sims, more Traits, Fears, Whims overhaul, real Aspirations, relationship builds, negative outcomes, things like that. Things I think they can do with this game now, the one we have.
Just a thought..... Sounds like the windows operating system doesn't recognize your older game. Have you tried installing a second operating system on your computer, such as windows XP that the sims 2 is more compatible with? You'll be able to choose upon each PC restart which operating system to load up. Windows XP, or Windows 10.
I remember back in Window XP times I had to download a particular file to allow Nintendo games to be installed/and work on my computer (such as Mario, Zelda) because XP didn't support dos based programs.
I only really tried installing from Origin when I heard they had updated it a bit for newer systems and some people were able to play it with some tweaks. If I remember right, I had it working but the Sims had this black shadow box underneath them so I had to fiddle with some PC settings. I'd gotten the black box to disappear from underneath the Sims but the game crashed after 10 minutes or so and I got tired of troubleshooting.
Thanks for your suggestion, it's definitely something to consider for the future, when I'm ready to try to wrangle with it again. There are a couple of other games I'd like to revisit as well that could benefit from that. I still have all of my old CC saved on an old external hard drive so using the discs for installation might be better anyway.
I do like the updates and upgrades and for me it's telling that they put effort into adding those things like building tools, sentiments, engine changes, CAS upgrades ect.. Things are coming to the base game frequently and the most recent nods at things they know the community is requesting means to me they are probably working on it or have it in their queue to work on. It takes years .. like toddlers did.
In my mind as long as they keep supporting it it will be upgraded for new systems. Who knows, maybe they can actually keep it up while producing another sim series to keep that money coming in from various games that are still alive. Instead of dropping it like a hot potato like in the past. Hopefully it's the new way. It satisfies those that enjoy the game and keeps new simmers coming in because they won't be afraid it will be abandoned.... and if you get them hooked at a reduced price, they will either pay full price for content that interest them or shop sales. Either way.. more simmers maintained and introduced, more profits... game stays alive.
We were told something along the lines that the game would be produced as long as it made sense too .. way, way back when all the craziness was still on the forums and those that didn't like the game were carrying pitchforks. I guess they meant it because it still kept going and looks like it still will.
I'm still not having problems running the game, at all. It still runs great for me on my "gaming" desktop from 2014... outdated now. Hopefully I'll get a new system in the next year but I'm not worried about it. I also do have some bugs but like always they aren't game breaking for me. I've been lucky with that.
I don't think this game can handle many more years. I hope they're hiring people to upgrade or fix the engine because it's broken and keeps getting more broken with each pack and update. The current team doesn't have the skills to keep this thing going.
@Hermitgirl It's already having problems running on a lot of people's PCs because of how old it is. It can barely utilize the power modern PCs have and it even causes problems a lot of times because of the bad optimization. This is something they can not fix that easily at all.
Also the game has a certain amount of memory it can use while running and this amount is limited. So the more DLC and packs they release and the more cluttered the game becomes, the more difficult it will become to run it without issues and this is something that cannot always be fixed by buying a more powerful PC. It doesn't matter if you have 16GB of RAM, if the game can only utilize 8GB then you cannot fix memory problems.
And last but not least the bugs. There is no question the team is having issues with the "spaghetti-code" they have created over the years. Bugs are more prominent than ever and the more content they add, the more bugs will come. The most concerning thing is that there are numerous bugs that EA said they "cannot fix".
So even if it sounds like a great thing to have a game that keeps being updated for decades, reality is that computers are much more complicated and have a lot of issues that cannot be fixed that easily and if the game wasn't originally designed to go for such a long time then it'll be even worse.
You're probably right about the comment I made that you outlined, it's opinion and I'm not that tech savvy. I do absolutely know my game runs very smoothly, loading times are as brisk as when the game came out. I have a computer that is old but still meets the specs the game requires. My bugs are minimal and I don't use mods .. well usually unless I just want to play around with them for a short time. I don't use "fix" mods at all, only maintain my game in ways that keep it running well (clearing cache, screenshots, keeping sim population as suggested by the game).
I have faith that they will know when the game needs to end as long as people are using the systems required. If they don't well I think I will know when to stop adding to my game. So so far so good with me as I said.
I know you don't want it to continue, believe me I see the comments. I just don't agree with them.
I remember the former CM stating in now deleted tweets that unfortunately some bugs couldn’t be fixed. And you only have to look at how often the same bugs keep popping up time and time again. (Hello, musical chairs and obsessive water drinking!)
Do you remember which bugs that they mentioned?
They have said that they are looking into simulation lag for example but that's one bug that I think will probably never be fixed, the game has too much it needs to process so people with simpler cpus are going to suffer from simulation lag.
Sims4 finally runs okay for me but I have to turn off vsync and run it on my new RTX3080 and that's just ridiculous. On my old 1080 I could sometimes get framedrops as low as 40 fps.
That's why I hope that they will take elelunicy's question from sims411 into consideration and look into upgrading the game's graphics API. DirectX9 is too old now.
One thing that also worries me with them extending the sims4's lifespan for many more years are that modders are not going to want to keep making mods for this game.