Never bothered me, I count it as a plus because it makes rotational play work.
If you turn off story progression in TS3 (either the in-game version or the mod), absolutely nothing happens to your inactive sims until you play them. You should come to TS3's section of the forum and ask the rotational players there. Yes, TS3 has rotational players.
I dont mind the closed world, I just wish there was more to do without loading screens. Like at least give my sims some rabbithole buildings to visit or parks, or schools and career buildings so my sims don't just disappear into the void
I've gotten used to the closed off worlds in TS4, but that doesn't mean I like them.
I think it's absolutely ridiculous that I need to suffer through a loading screen to literally enter a lot that is right next door to my sims house. Just NO!
My sims are 95% of the time stuck at home for that very reason.
I don't necessarily need an "open world", although I would welcome it ... I need 100%, totally open neighborhoods! No load screen to get to the community pool which is next door, no load screen to go to the bowling ally across the street from me, etc. If a lot is realistically within walking distance, then there should be no loading screen, imo!
But, I just accept TS4 for what it is with all of it's imposed limitations, and don't dwell on it too much.
My biggest, biggest, BIGGEST complaint (besides no colorwheel/CASt options in TS4) is NOT BEING ABLE TO EDIT THE WORLDS! Can't remove the freakin' dinosaur from Oasis Springs, can't add playground equipment to older worlds, can't delete those fake houses that have a style totally immersion breaking for the world I created, etc.
It doesn't bother me really. I find that when I play TS3, we may have open worlds but the load time for the game itself takes that much longer which annoys me more.
The initial load in TS3 is horrendous. That, and every CAS asset taking five seconds to appear made me stop playing. But open world, oh boy, do I miss it. I wouldn't mind a load screen traveling between neighborhoods, but just being able to visit the neighbors, or taking one sim to the library while the rest of the household stayed at home was such a perk in TS3. In TS4, my sims hardly leave their home lot once the household is bigger than a single sim.
Anyhow, since the rest of the game loads pretty fast, I doubt open neighborhoods would add that much loading time. In TS3, once the game was loaded, it would run pretty smoothly. I don't see why it can't be done in TS4.
I always found the term "open world" a little oxymoronic, in that I think of worlds in terms of Oasis Springs, Brindletown Bay, etc. and in Sims4 we can visit those no matter where we live, which you can't do in Sims3 unless you move (unless there's a mod that I never looked for) so I feel that open neighborhood is more apropos for Sims4, and yes, I do miss that. As others have mentioned, it does seem incredibly dumb to have a loading screen and/or have to "travel" to go someplace a block away. I don't mind loading screens when travelling to a different world, but it's ridiculous to have them in one's home world. So maybe open world isn't so oxymoronic after all :smile:
I don't really want a complete open world, but I would love a semi-open world - as in open neighborhoods, but not entire towns. It makes more sense and we would have less lag from it.
Hmmm i must say I agree with that. In Sulani there is a Bar and a Beach lot next to each other. When I want to send my sim tho the beach (Because it is complete with Lounge Chairs and Floats for sims in the water, I always forget that I have to load the lot to the point that when I click on the object I will get the usual Travel Interaction reminding me that I need to have a load screen.
Anyways Apartments would have been the game changer for multiple lots. I still want to have apartments that supports families without a load screen just like in The Sims 2
I absolutely miss the open world. In TS3, I didn't control one family, I used a mod to switch between families all day long. I'd play as the elders early in the morning and then as the stay at home moms/tots during the day and get them all queued up to make visits to shops, have tea with friends, take the babies to the park, etc. Then I'd play with the kids and teens after school and send them to the arcade or comic shops and parks. Then as the working sims started getting home, I'd get everyone to their homes for family dinner, homework, and anything they needed to do to prepare for the next day. I had a blast playing TS3 and I loved taking care of my whole town at the same time instead of having to switch houses after a day or two.
I hate loading screens, but I would like TS4 more if it acted more like this mod from TS2 where I can leave the house with one sim and then control them while they're out and then as they go home, their time freezes while I play the remaining sims at home until the time that the other sim was to come home. Then all sims are at home and time moves like normal again. I can't stand not being able to control my whole family and it wastes their lives.
Open world has never been essential to me, in fact I would prefer that the worlds stay as they are. In Sims 5, whenever it comes out, I would love to have open neighborhoods, but not open worlds.
Doesn't bother me. We have loading screens in real life, too. Only we call them cars, planes, bikes, boats, feet and such, and they usually take way longer than game loading screens.
Never bothered me, I count it as a plus because it makes rotational play work.
If you turn off story progression in TS3 (either the in-game version or the mod), absolutely nothing happens to your inactive sims until you play them. You should come to TS3's section of the forum and ask the rotational players there. Yes, TS3 has rotational players.
Yeah, I've never really understood that complaint, because I am a rotational player... in fact, have been exclusively a rotational player always, since TS1, and I thought rotational play was great in TS3. Easier in some ways than in TS4.
Then again, I've never wanted story progression, and I've played with aging off since TS2.
For the most part it doesn't bother me too much, sometimes I fantasize about just how much an improvement adding open districts in Sims 4 would be, and then get sad knowing that'll never happen. Just imagine seeing your neighbors coming and going from work, our checking the mail at the mail box, or stepping out the front door to take their dog for a walk. Ok I'm sad again.
I do really miss open worlds, a lot. I understand the argument about lag, though, and I could make do with open neighborhoods, as others have suggested.
Aside from being much more convenient, open neighborhoods would also add even more incentive to think strategically about neighborhood composition, about who your sim's neighbors are and what local amenities they would be able to access. Much like when you buy a house or look for an apartment in real life, you might be swayed by the coffee shop down the block or the library within walking distance, or look for a block with other kids the same age for your kid to play with.
As it is, if it takes just as long to visit a house in a different world as it does to visit your next door neighbor, it's kind of meaningless who your neighbors are. Especially when even the local park next to your house (the non-lot community space with no loading screen) is always full of randos from everywhere, not your actual neighbors.
It never did bother me. Most of my experience of the Sims before the Sims 4 was from the Sims 2 which also did not have an open world so the transition from one to the other was not much different in that respect.
I have however been spending a lot of time lately playing the Sims 3 and I can definitely see the benefits and charm of the open world, it’s wonderful to be able to keep track of all my family members at all times.
I think it’s to late for the Sims 4 but in the Sims 5 a compromise of open neighbourhoods would be lovely.
I don't really want a complete open world, but I would love a semi-open world - as in open neighborhoods, but not entire towns. It makes more sense and we would have less lag from it.
This exactly! Although I enjoyed the open world in Sims3 I also found that the worlds were too big. I like to fill my neighborhood with related Sims and the worlds were a bit overwhelming. What I really really miss is the customization of the worlds, I can't stand the prebuilt houses in Sim4. It ruins so many worlds!
Open world was one of the things that drove me away from Sims 3 pretty soon. I hate travel times (and store opening shedules) with a passion. In practise it always ended in moving the school and workplace next to your house, what really messes with how the town looks. Nowadays when I revisit Sims 3 I cheat-teleport a lot.
The only upside of open world is being able to control sims in two different places, but Sims 2 did that better with simply stopping time for those left behind.
I don’t really care about visiting my neighbors with no loading screens (I don’t visit the neighbors) BUT I do want to see them going about their lives next door.
There’s something magical about the idea that your sim might bump into another sim out in the world, their lives truly crossing paths. In TS3, everyone was somewhere at any given time. In TS4, it feels like nobody exists unless they randomly get spawned on the same lot as you.
I was always fine with not having an open world, I'd probably prefer open neighborhoods though. I don't experience long loading screens but I'm probably more neutral on this question. My playstyle is that I really like not being tied to one world in one save and I'm not playing with story progression because I've developed my own characters and households.
I might have interest in a new version that comes out but if it's not compatible, I'm likely to stay with my game and possibly take a break for a while. If I'm not into the format of a new version, it's possible that I'll just stay where I'm at. I really play when time opens up in my schedule and starting over with basic concepts like weather and pets does not really appeal to me.
If they release some amazing integrated new open world with a really upgraded visual style and flexible format, I might be interested. I don't think I would dump the game that I already have going. If they do some rebranding into a new version in which you can "bring your old save" and the new version has open world in a way that works for me, sure, I'd go with that.
I probably will try Paralives but it doesn't have to be Paralives vs. Sims for me. I don't have infinite time all the time but we never do.
What I would get bored of is following one character or one household around all of the time especially in one world. I had a lot of fun in TS3 and I think it had a lot of detail. I don't blame people for continuing to play it. For "TS5", I just don't have opinions about speculative projects that don't exist (ok, maybe it exists but we're not talking about a releasing product). If anything, I'd probably really like a historic spin-off again.
I'll add that I think they have added bigger neighborhoods that feel more open though yes, you have to go through loading screens to get to a new lot. I've been fine with it but it's not like I'd say, "Wow, I love loading screens." They aren't as long as in the TS2 days and I liked TS2.
I'm a rotational player whose PERFECT game was TS2. I don't think anything will ever be better. There are things I like better about TS4, such as the greater range of body size and appearance that exist in the game. The graphics/locations are absolutely stunning. But my TS4 game is so modded up that I now have it running like basically a better-running version of TS2. I was never a TS3 player. I did buy it and try it out, but the open world and lack of allowance for rotational play was just not for me. Seeing how much others loved it, I've thought about giving it another go some time.
My username has been my internet handle for over 20 years since I was 16 and refers to when I had a crush on a very tall boy. I intend absolutely no violence toward beautiful giraffes.
No, I’ve gotten used to what we have and generally ok with it, but I’d still prefer at least open neighborhoods, and with apartments the ability to openly visit neighbors since walking across the hall into a loading screen is a bit ridiculous.
I ended up answering 'yes' because I'd really love to have open neighborhoods and, in that regard, constantly miss the element. I haven't felt the need for the whole worlds to be open but these "open neighborhoods in disguise" maps get to me. A.k.a you can freely walk around there and see all the lots BUT then can't seamlessly interact with them. I find it pretty aggravating and immersion breaking to be bombarded with loading screens when wanting to visit a neighbor's house or a venue which is like right next door.
Total lack of open world also starts getting significantly more annoying when you have multiple sims in the family. E.g. I have refused plans/invitations to visit a neighbor just because I didn't want to cancel something other sims were doing or mess up their schedule (which they really like to do when I lose control of them). Also, I wanted my triplets go spend some time outside. Would have been neat to have the Crawdad Quarter open so I could actually let them do different things fitting to their personality (one loves the gym, one loves the nightclub, one just loves to be where all the people are) and keep tabs on them without having to constantly jump between loading screens and canceling their actions. As it went now, I really couldn't be bothered with that and just had them all go to the gym even though one really wasn't feeling it.
I guess with 1-3 sims it wouldn't be as bothersome but this family (at that moment) had 6 sims and the inability to control multiple sims in different areas of the neighborhood got more restrictive and immersion breaking the bigger the family got.
Open worlds? Sometimes. Open neighborhoods. Yes, it bothers me. Especially in neighborhoods like that cul-de-sac in Willow Creek. Cut down on the random walkers and just show neighbors in their yard/home doing various activities. I'd love that sort of immersion.
No, I prefer it this way, playing with rotational households. My focus is on my Sims at the homelot either way, so I don't need/want access to the entire neighbourhood.
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We want: Faeries, with a good ability tree, hopefully before summer 2024.
What do we want to get rid of: The holiday bug, the constant showering and the weed glitch.
I've been begging for open neighborhoods for years now haha.
The open world of TS3 was nice, because you could do and go wherever you wanted whenever you wanted. And you didn't have to worry about the whole family when doing so. I could have my child sims go hang out at the park while the parents stayed home and took care of the toddler, or went shopping at the store, or anything really. In TS4, I don't travel a whole lot since I don't always want to take the whole family with me. I can't just send one sim off to a lot but stay home with the family either. I'd have to travel with them to the lot, then switch back control to the family, which takes 2 loading screens just to get a sim out of the house. I can't take my child/teen sims out while leaving the parents and toddler at home, because the toddlers needs will go down and no one takes care of them, so I gotta quick get back home so the toddler doesn't get taken.
I don't need an open world, and I don't think we'll ever see them in this generation unless the next town they create is made to support it. But open neighborhoods I do think can work with each neighborhood we've already gotten. They're already sectioned off into groups, the lots are right there, they just need to be loaded. And I think you could implement an option for whether or not you want the lots loaded in the game settings. This way you can accommodate players with lower and higher end PCs simultaneously. You could even have the option to not load the lot until your sim goes over and knocks on the door.
If we had open neighborhoods, I could finally (and easily) send my kids to the park next door while my parent sims stay home and do their work while taking care of the toddler. I could even take the whole family down to the town center and have my teens hang out at the movie theater (bar technically) while the kids go with the parents to the ice cream cafe (restaurant/cafe combo). I could have my sims go over to their friends house while I have their parent make dinner. I think this would be a nice middle ground.
I'm not opposed to loading screens. I've lived through the sims 1 and 2, so I'm used to it. But open neighborhoods would change the game. It's so annoying that I can't just walk across the street and knock on my neighbor's door to hang out with them. I gotta travel. And I gotta leave family members behind who won't take care of themselves let alone their children. If we could have an open world in TS3 back in the early 2010s (which now runs better on newer computers (on mine the loading time is quite short)), then I think it's reasonable to have open neighborhoods in TS4 in 2021.
Comments
If you turn off story progression in TS3 (either the in-game version or the mod), absolutely nothing happens to your inactive sims until you play them. You should come to TS3's section of the forum and ask the rotational players there. Yes, TS3 has rotational players.
I think it's absolutely ridiculous that I need to suffer through a loading screen to literally enter a lot that is right next door to my sims house. Just NO!
My sims are 95% of the time stuck at home for that very reason.
I don't necessarily need an "open world", although I would welcome it ... I need 100%, totally open neighborhoods! No load screen to get to the community pool which is next door, no load screen to go to the bowling ally across the street from me, etc. If a lot is realistically within walking distance, then there should be no loading screen, imo!
But, I just accept TS4 for what it is with all of it's imposed limitations, and don't dwell on it too much.
My biggest, biggest, BIGGEST complaint (besides no colorwheel/CASt options in TS4) is NOT BEING ABLE TO EDIT THE WORLDS! Can't remove the freakin' dinosaur from Oasis Springs, can't add playground equipment to older worlds, can't delete those fake houses that have a style totally immersion breaking for the world I created, etc.
The initial load in TS3 is horrendous. That, and every CAS asset taking five seconds to appear made me stop playing. But open world, oh boy, do I miss it. I wouldn't mind a load screen traveling between neighborhoods, but just being able to visit the neighbors, or taking one sim to the library while the rest of the household stayed at home was such a perk in TS3. In TS4, my sims hardly leave their home lot once the household is bigger than a single sim.
Anyhow, since the rest of the game loads pretty fast, I doubt open neighborhoods would add that much loading time. In TS3, once the game was loaded, it would run pretty smoothly. I don't see why it can't be done in TS4.
Hmmm i must say I agree with that. In Sulani there is a Bar and a Beach lot next to each other. When I want to send my sim tho the beach (Because it is complete with Lounge Chairs and Floats for sims in the water, I always forget that I have to load the lot to the point that when I click on the object I will get the usual Travel Interaction reminding me that I need to have a load screen.
Anyways Apartments would have been the game changer for multiple lots. I still want to have apartments that supports families without a load screen just like in The Sims 2
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/924539/features-that-needs-depth-and-ways-to-improve
I hate loading screens, but I would like TS4 more if it acted more like this mod from TS2 where I can leave the house with one sim and then control them while they're out and then as they go home, their time freezes while I play the remaining sims at home until the time that the other sim was to come home. Then all sims are at home and time moves like normal again. I can't stand not being able to control my whole family and it wastes their lives.
Favorite Reply so far 😂😂
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/924539/features-that-needs-depth-and-ways-to-improve
Yeah, I've never really understood that complaint, because I am a rotational player... in fact, have been exclusively a rotational player always, since TS1, and I thought rotational play was great in TS3. Easier in some ways than in TS4.
Then again, I've never wanted story progression, and I've played with aging off since TS2.
Aside from being much more convenient, open neighborhoods would also add even more incentive to think strategically about neighborhood composition, about who your sim's neighbors are and what local amenities they would be able to access. Much like when you buy a house or look for an apartment in real life, you might be swayed by the coffee shop down the block or the library within walking distance, or look for a block with other kids the same age for your kid to play with.
As it is, if it takes just as long to visit a house in a different world as it does to visit your next door neighbor, it's kind of meaningless who your neighbors are. Especially when even the local park next to your house (the non-lot community space with no loading screen) is always full of randos from everywhere, not your actual neighbors.
Same. The one thing I'd love to have is the ability to see my immediate neighbors coming and going and being able to walk to their homes and visit.
I have however been spending a lot of time lately playing the Sims 3 and I can definitely see the benefits and charm of the open world, it’s wonderful to be able to keep track of all my family members at all times.
I think it’s to late for the Sims 4 but in the Sims 5 a compromise of open neighbourhoods would be lovely.
This exactly! Although I enjoyed the open world in Sims3 I also found that the worlds were too big. I like to fill my neighborhood with related Sims and the worlds were a bit overwhelming. What I really really miss is the customization of the worlds, I can't stand the prebuilt houses in Sim4. It ruins so many worlds!
The only upside of open world is being able to control sims in two different places, but Sims 2 did that better with simply stopping time for those left behind.
There’s something magical about the idea that your sim might bump into another sim out in the world, their lives truly crossing paths. In TS3, everyone was somewhere at any given time. In TS4, it feels like nobody exists unless they randomly get spawned on the same lot as you.
I might have interest in a new version that comes out but if it's not compatible, I'm likely to stay with my game and possibly take a break for a while. If I'm not into the format of a new version, it's possible that I'll just stay where I'm at. I really play when time opens up in my schedule and starting over with basic concepts like weather and pets does not really appeal to me.
If they release some amazing integrated new open world with a really upgraded visual style and flexible format, I might be interested. I don't think I would dump the game that I already have going. If they do some rebranding into a new version in which you can "bring your old save" and the new version has open world in a way that works for me, sure, I'd go with that.
I probably will try Paralives but it doesn't have to be Paralives vs. Sims for me. I don't have infinite time all the time but we never do.
What I would get bored of is following one character or one household around all of the time especially in one world. I had a lot of fun in TS3 and I think it had a lot of detail. I don't blame people for continuing to play it. For "TS5", I just don't have opinions about speculative projects that don't exist (ok, maybe it exists but we're not talking about a releasing product). If anything, I'd probably really like a historic spin-off again.
I'll add that I think they have added bigger neighborhoods that feel more open though yes, you have to go through loading screens to get to a new lot. I've been fine with it but it's not like I'd say, "Wow, I love loading screens." They aren't as long as in the TS2 days and I liked TS2.
Total lack of open world also starts getting significantly more annoying when you have multiple sims in the family. E.g. I have refused plans/invitations to visit a neighbor just because I didn't want to cancel something other sims were doing or mess up their schedule (which they really like to do when I lose control of them). Also, I wanted my triplets go spend some time outside. Would have been neat to have the Crawdad Quarter open so I could actually let them do different things fitting to their personality (one loves the gym, one loves the nightclub, one just loves to be where all the people are) and keep tabs on them without having to constantly jump between loading screens and canceling their actions. As it went now, I really couldn't be bothered with that and just had them all go to the gym even though one really wasn't feeling it.
I guess with 1-3 sims it wouldn't be as bothersome but this family (at that moment) had 6 sims and the inability to control multiple sims in different areas of the neighborhood got more restrictive and immersion breaking the bigger the family got.
We want: Faeries, with a good ability tree, hopefully before summer 2024.
What do we want to get rid of: The holiday bug, the constant showering and the weed glitch.
The open world of TS3 was nice, because you could do and go wherever you wanted whenever you wanted. And you didn't have to worry about the whole family when doing so. I could have my child sims go hang out at the park while the parents stayed home and took care of the toddler, or went shopping at the store, or anything really. In TS4, I don't travel a whole lot since I don't always want to take the whole family with me. I can't just send one sim off to a lot but stay home with the family either. I'd have to travel with them to the lot, then switch back control to the family, which takes 2 loading screens just to get a sim out of the house. I can't take my child/teen sims out while leaving the parents and toddler at home, because the toddlers needs will go down and no one takes care of them, so I gotta quick get back home so the toddler doesn't get taken.
I don't need an open world, and I don't think we'll ever see them in this generation unless the next town they create is made to support it. But open neighborhoods I do think can work with each neighborhood we've already gotten. They're already sectioned off into groups, the lots are right there, they just need to be loaded. And I think you could implement an option for whether or not you want the lots loaded in the game settings. This way you can accommodate players with lower and higher end PCs simultaneously. You could even have the option to not load the lot until your sim goes over and knocks on the door.
If we had open neighborhoods, I could finally (and easily) send my kids to the park next door while my parent sims stay home and do their work while taking care of the toddler. I could even take the whole family down to the town center and have my teens hang out at the movie theater (bar technically) while the kids go with the parents to the ice cream cafe (restaurant/cafe combo). I could have my sims go over to their friends house while I have their parent make dinner. I think this would be a nice middle ground.
I'm not opposed to loading screens. I've lived through the sims 1 and 2, so I'm used to it. But open neighborhoods would change the game. It's so annoying that I can't just walk across the street and knock on my neighbor's door to hang out with them. I gotta travel. And I gotta leave family members behind who won't take care of themselves let alone their children. If we could have an open world in TS3 back in the early 2010s (which now runs better on newer computers (on mine the loading time is quite short)), then I think it's reasonable to have open neighborhoods in TS4 in 2021.