Hello Sims Team, My following points are probably already mentioned: But I am still here to emphasize the most important points:
I like how the Sims 4 is mostly made in a write-it-yourself way, meaning you are the author and nothing big happens without you. It is just not really sustainable in my opinion.
Here are some ways the game could be improved for me and the reasoning behind it:
So I did notice that the most fun and memorable part of the sims are the ones I cannot control. Alien Obductions for one: they really give you a thrill of not knowing what happens next. This risk factor and these coincidences are important to me, because it makes the same story different each time. Most Sim-Players have this "Same-Sim-Syndrome" - where we make the same kind of sims everytime and play through similar stories. So i would like more coincidences. More drama. More death. Decisions that are impactful of life. Some ideas i have that could be implemented easily: Teenagers randomly and autonomously starting drama and fights with their parents just because. (I am a teenager myself and hormones just go overboard sometime ok) Consequences: We have a nice criminal system already, but our sims just never are prisenors themselves. I think starting a lot of physical fights could lead to a prison life. I heard that the packs are getting updated, so this is just a little Food for Thought. Illnesses that are serious, maybe ones that handicap your sim as well (but not real life diseases since this is still the sims) Mental Breakdowns - I like the "Writers Block" and similar to this, other skills you do a lot could be blocked as well.
The sentiments already add this kind of wishes to the game and improve the game a lot - although they still have unused potentials.
Next, I think the game is a little dull when you play for generations in a world- i want my neighbors to get pregnant, my friends to have affairs with each other and get married, have fights, harder times building romantic relationships, my plants to die... I want drama outside the world, maybe some Gossip features with my neighbours, sims get married on their own - this includes some features MCCC already has. I think some features of that should be considered adding in the base game.
To sum it up - I think the most most fun thing about playing The Sims is making a irl Person and then telling them "Look, your sim decided to do this random thing, or that random thing..." Like - a little more randomness, because life really is unpredictable.
I think the Sims Community are some of the most wholesome people ever. I love the game and can't wait for patches!!!
Oh, wow. One more post. I swear it’s the last one for now! :D
I think you’ve gotten better about this but please do not rely solely on the emotion for results to an event or action. My best example is the vodoo doll, which needs an overhaul IMO. In past games, when a Sim used the doll, you’d see something physically happening to the victim. In Sims 4, the victim gets an emotional buff related to what’s on happening with very little physical reaction or a reaction that’s muted or feels inappropriate for what was done to them. I want to see a Sim reacting as if someone was physically poking them or they get soaked with water as if someone poured it over them. This specific example is the best way I could explain how I feel about the way emotions are too often used over physical, animated consequence instead of as an enhancement. I enjoy emotions more than a lot of Simmers. I love seeing facial expressions change and body language change, but often it’s just the change registering in the corner of the UI instead of with my Simon screen. Please keep improving that. Thank you.
I think TS4 lost some of the freedom of TS3 in terms of gameplay. The main issue is the music career. There is only one career path and it just seems quite vanilla. I would love to see the "band" features of TS3 returned, so the ability to start a band, have a jam session, and perform as a band. This was my favorite part of TS3 and I would pay anything to have it back!
I also think the NPC's could add more to the game, rather than just showing up at your door randomly. I would like to see more of a "story progresssion" mode where NPC's make decisions and can get jobs on their own.
I do get that this won't be seen as a wishlist of any kind and you can't promise much hence my desires are a bit more realistic.
1. Smaller variants of the different objects. It fails to amaze me that we're 7 years in and we still have a giant 🐸🐸🐸🐸 observatory instead of a telescope(yes, we have star/cloud gazing with OR, but that really shouldn't be the only reason people should be getting a pack), giant microscopes that don't fit in a normal room for a lab. Then we have packs like Fitness stuff that only has a climbing wall that only works if you either have the entire floor as the tallest wall height or you make the area where you want to place it be 2 stories high just to accomodate it. Smaller varaints of these items could fix it.
2. Have kits work as a way to enhance gameplay: as in with this whole pack refreshes, use kits to provide different styled variants of gameplay items from the pack while still being a B/B kit or bring more variety to the CAS so like a CAS kit that comes with the Spa Day refresh that gives us more masc framed crop tops or a kit that could work with DHD and gives us either more modular stuff(on the B/B side) or more kilts/skirts for the masc frame(on the CAS side). Just don't have the kits feel like a MFP situation, where you intentionally leave stuff out of the pack refresh/update to put into the kit(s).
3. I honestly would love if we could get a proper statement on plantsims, like something telling us that they might get a proper overhaul so they actually feel indepth like they did in previous games. most simmers don't even realize they exist in the sims 4 as they are a temporary lifestate that just currently feels like aliens in sims 2 but temporary.
4. Aspirations in the sims 4 have become just a tutorial of the pack it is introduced in. It'd be lovely if we got more that was a bit more of a challenge and wasn't for some players completed in just a few hours then just not used much on other sims unless its for the sake of a story.
5. CAS variety. When I heard we were getting more stuff for masc sims in CLV, I was excited, but it was lost when it ended up being more of the same. Masculine humans irl have more variety in their clothes, so why are masc sims stuck in the same few styles with the only skirts being in IL, the only kilt being in DHD(not even a proper kilt) and the only crop tops that are made to fit masc framed sims the best in Spa Day. This doesn't cover the fact there are too little variety in hairstyles, since it feels like the team doesn't look at the hairstyles they've given masc sims in previous packs and just make more of it. I constantly have to use hairstyles marked feminine on my masculine sims if I want variety, this shouldn't always be the case, even if trying to make masc nonbinary sims who use the masc frame.
More depth with who die. 1. I don’t get why their is still never been a graveyard added to the sims 4, it would be so nice visit an actually place in the open world that is a graveyard than make it yourself everytime. And you could see other npcs graves even than 2. Also it would nice they change how gravestones work, cause now if my family or a friend dies that doesn’t live with my current household, I have no way to actually make them still a working grave stones. It would be nice their is a place where you could get every sims who dies gravestone. 3.A cherry on top would be if their was an option to actually gave your sims a funeral. 4. Also would be nice if their can more ways for your sim to die
More depth in Family 1. A way for npc to have also families that expand when you are playing, would be fun to see them get married and get invited to that wedding. Or see sims getting pregnant or adopt sims. Also family tree for npc with more sims on it than only the current household, sims 3 done this allot and you even could visit the graves than. 2. A way to have a family portrait without taking an actually picture with your sims, their now mods for this. But I believe it is a really nice way to have family portrait of your sims, without building a whole photo studio in your house. Also when you take a picture one sim is always left out from your household.
More depth in world 1. Would be nice to see random npcs you know or don’t know in the world getting engaged or see them get married somewhere if you weren’t invited than. Just seeing other npc living a life makes the game feel real. Also you never see npcs really hanging out with their kids in the world. They always apart if they are even in the same town than. 2. Making the other vacation worlds playable without mods would also be so nice for story telling.
I think that there can be a nice level of challenge if you allow the game to be so.
The main concern about all of this though, even if there are challenges that are sufficient, is that everything feels to static.
A new level of depth to the game would be more animations for walking, and more things of accessibility in the base game.
What I mean by this, is, more things for sims to do at home.
This is a pretty open idea, and like others say, an expanded emotion system and better NPC AI integration would make the game feel like it has more depth.
This is an issue for me because I feel like I just have tasks. I make my sims to 30 things and when there’s a lot of things and challenges, I just speed my game to 3 until I get their needs met and then I’m kind of stressed and bored.
When it came to a game like the sims 3, there was always a lot to check out and I didn’t speed my game because I really liked seeing what was around me and didn’t want to miss out on the action everywhere else.
I would like to see the individual age groups have more things specifically locked for them. The furthest you guys have achieved into depth was toddlers. But with this being said, with the current emotions and traits, it feels repetitive fast.
I hope this can help, and hey, if EA allows you guys to ever visit The Sims 3 again, the payoff would be great and maybe would consolidate more budget for The Sims 5, being that The Sims 3 is still an unfinished experience for a lot of players due to the bugs. Just an open idea.
Sorry for any spelling or grammar errors, English isn't my first language
Thank you Sims Team for doing something like this! We can now voice our opinions in easy for you to see it way. Sorry, if the post will be chaotic, I hardly ever write that long texts in foreign language and I'm kinda stressed that I write something grammatically incorrect lol.
First I would like to give propositions for giving the game more depth, and later I will talk about more challenging gameplay.
Depth:
* Sims in TS4 sadly have very shallow personality. Traits, that were supposed to make their whole personality are doing almost nothing. Most of them add only a little and forgettable moodlet and a small amount of new interactions in the pie menu. It's not enough.
* Aspirations. Please, make aspiration more like in the previous sims games. Aspirations were always a goal, that Sim wanted to achieve in their life. Now aspirations seems more like a tutorials, rather then things our character wants do accomplish. Good example is Fabulously Filthy aspiration from Bust The Dust kit. Does my Sim's only goal in their life atm is wanting to leave food to spoil and show whole world how dirty their house is by throwing party in it? I don't think so (Unless our sim has such a boring life that it really is their only goal in life). Redoing aspirations system would really add more depth to the game cause Sims would have an actual goal they want to achieve in their life. Personally, I think that aspirations should be more like a path that leads to a huge goal at the end and a perfect aspiration system would be a mix of Sims 2, 3 and 4 systems.
* WHIMS. Why have you forgotten about them? They were the only thing in the game that let Sims decide what they wanted to do right now. But sadly you stopped adding new whims after Seasons came out and I think they are wasted potential. They add depth to a game by letting the Sims choose what they want to do. To me, whims must be based on the Sims aspiration, likes and dislikes, traits, current relationships etc. because right now it doesn't really make sense that my Sim without a Loves Outdoors trait wants to Buy a Bee Box out of nowhere.
* Redo emotion system and make events like death more impactful. Who cares that your mom recently died in a house fire and your spouse cheated on you with a mailman? You're happy because your house is clean, your needs are full and your favorite music is playing on the radio. Emotions like sadness, anger, tension and embarrassment shouldn't be that easily empowered by small happy or playful moodlets. Same goes with the moodlets coming from likes and dislikes. I remember laughing when during a gameplay livestream for Dream Home Decorator, Sim Guru had to remove a happy moodlet to prevent Sim from dancing to the music they disliked. I think you saw a problem there. Redoing emotions would add so much depth to the game cause it would make certain events and strong emotions more impactful (also please make cheating more impactful on our Sims lives, we're begging).
* Improve relationships. To me it's to easy to fall in love/make a friends/best friends etc. Also it should be easier to make an enemy then friend for me. It would be also cool if you expand relationships (idk if it is a good way to describe it). For example make crushes one sided and then later let them become two sided or make it possible for one Sim to see another as a friend, but another sees them as an enemy. It would be great for storytelling or just regular gameplay.
* Add more family gameplay. Parenthood added a lot of great stuff for families and I can't imagine playing without that expansion pack. But we need more, I'm saying that as a family player. My sim families often don't have really nothing to do because of the lack of family content. It would bring more depth and fun to the game.
* Make diseases more relevant. Right now they only give Sims one moodlet and a funny looking scars at the body. Diseases should be more serious, for example, they should be able to kill you, evolve into more serious ones and your Sim would must go to the hospital. Also delete this magical medicine that cost as much as nothing and it can cure everything (or at least make it work only on non serious diseases) and instead let Sims actually go to the doctor.
Now I'm gonna talk about making game more challenging
* TS4 is to easy. It's super simple to make an YA in Cas, get them a job, promote them to the 10th level and let them bath in cash like Scrooge McDuck. It's to easy. When you have all needed things for a promotion, you will always get it. There's no challenge. Jobs are very undemanding in this game and this need to be changed. Also, it's to easy for Sims to get a lots of money. Jobs have huge wages, strangers can send you 2k as a gift for lending them 1k first, people that you don't know can spontaneously call to your sim and propose them jobs on an absurdly high level (which happens to often) etc. etc.
* This game also need more random events, for example random deaths or accidents. Shockingly it is hard to truly neglect a Sim in this game. The game will send you warnings when your Sim is about to die from, for example heat, which kills the surprise and fun. Sims also to slow die from hunger, so it's almost impossible to kill them that way by accident. Same with school. In order for social workers to come for your kid, they must be absent from school for about 2 weeks. Oh c'mon, there's no way that someone would do it by accident. This feature is so hard to accomplish, that could easily be removed and nobody would bat an eye on it.
* Speaking on more random events I'd like to give propositions on what could be added and/or changed:
- Burglars. Sims in TS4 have rich houses from all that money they received from strangers, that there's no way burglars wouldn't be interested in robing them. Burglars will add so much randomness and fun to the game and many sims players would appreciate this feature to be once again in a game.
- I think our Sim's friends should be able to send them more random messages than a simple "Hey can I come to youuuuuuu???????" or "Hey come to meeeeeeee!!". It's unrealistic. Adding more features like that would make telephone system more interesting cause right now I almost never use it.
- Re-introduce school bus and carpool that our Sim can miss and they would have to walk to school/work on foot. This event would also add a sad moodlet for them.
- Make demotion in work possible (or more frequent if something like that already exist).
- Social workers should appear in person to take away child (this would be cool and realistic) and also they should come faster then now. For example, it takes about 15 hours from warning notification about your hungry kid, to them being taken away. It's definitely to long.
- Attraction. Please give us attraction system. And also make it random. It would be great if a teenager had it randomized right after their birthday and that we couldn't change it. Here's a list of my propositions of turn on's and offs: Hair color (colors that we right now have + option for cc hair colors), eye color (colors that we right now have + option for cc eyes), body type, traits, likes and dislikes, occult, skills, job, makeup (including whole face makeup), accessories etc.
And that's it. I know it kinda short but I don't really need anything more to be improved in this game.
I would like to see a WANTS & FEARS system to sims 4 (improved Whims system).
The Wants / Fears could be impacted by Traits / Experiences / LIFE DIRECTIONS
(choosen & temporarily goals, similar to ASPIRATIONS sims 2).
LIFE DIRECTIONS- Have up to 2 differentDirections (Aspirations) ongoing at the same time. The Directions will give your sim negative & positive whims (want & fears), complete and gain / loseSatisfaction points + Meaningfullness points + Self-esteem points.
Pick 2Directions from following categories:
(They can all be from the same category or from different categories): 1. Family 2. Romantic 3. Pleasure 4. Career 5. Money 6. Popularity 7. Knowledge 8. Power 9. Hedonism 10. Goodness 11. Spiritual & Personal development 12. Health & Wellbeing 13. Vanity 14. Evilness 15. Criminality 16. Nature & Wildlife 17. Animals 18. Travels & Experiences 19. Interest & Hobbies 20. Close Relations 21. Creativity 22. Random (you will have the possibility to choose which directions to randomize from if you don´t want all of them)
At the end of your sims lifetime, their tombstone will show what Direction your sims found as most important (what directions they mostly picked) and what Direction your sim was mostly successful in. You can change your sims Directions at any time.
A sim that goes for a longer period of time without completing any whims / Quest wants will get the moodlet Life feels meh (+1 Bored and Decreasing Meaningfulness points).
Improved experience: Provide challenges and consequences to you choices. Give more personality & depth to sims. Would give some fresh air to the game when you feel stuck / bored / uninspired (offer new directions that spark creativity)
Not much to do for my Sims when they visit areas outside of the house. The Sims 3, I liked going somewhere and quickly going to the next spot and exploring. In the latest expansion pack, going to the fair without bringing something from home will just kind of have your sim standing there, and I can’t make much memories!
Maybe make pregnancies longer, make pregnant sims go to one appointment and bring home a sonogram photo. Have more extreme pregnancy symptoms, and maybe even have 10 sim households.
So here we are, and there is a lot of content out there that adds to the game. I took a break for a long time from Sims 4. I have never done that with any sim game. I went off to play Call of Duty, Dragon age games and Division. Let me just say I have been a simmer since Sims 1. I was late to Sims 2, I ended up getting Sims 3, then 2 and I loved the Sims 2. I was excited for Sims 4 and even more excited after playing the demo.
Anyway I come back and there are likes and dislikes. I thought this might be interesting but it just annoys me because if a sim hates fitness, why do they keep doing fitness interactions and music stations. I found my sims hate a station but will continue to stay in the same room and listen to the station. The sims become uncomfortable and then angry. The worst example of this is sims who don't like dancing, when another sim turns the stereo on the sim who hates dancing will start dancing until I end that interaction. Here is my point. Why bother to have likes and dislikes if it's just going to be ignored and the sim is going to do the very thing they hate. My sim who hates dancing, maxed out the dancing skill.
Traits
They are far too little of them and they shouldn't be exclusive to expansion packs or stuff packs. Sims are really lacking in traits that use to make them unique. Three traits for an adult sim. Yes there are other traits in the reward system but these traits are lacking any real depth. I love the Introvert trait in CAS but where is the shy trait or neurotic. More traits would build a more complete and unique sim.
Relationships
They don't seem to matter to the sim. Sims flirt all the time, sometimes right in front of their partner and the partner Sim just carries on doing daily tasks. Would it be so hard to have an reaction like Unflirty sims have sometimes when someone wants to hug them, they shake their head and put their hands up like they are pushing them back. Also the sim should get an upset moodlet and other sim should get been caught moodlet. Anything would be better than how it is now. I don't want to waste a trait slot to make my sim have the jealous trait just to get a reaction when their partner cheats. Having said that, my sim had the jealous trait and all he did was wonder what his partner was up to because he was not with him. Then when the free love action plan was in action he kissed female sims in front of his partner and watched his partner kiss female sims. Not a peep out of him, and there is the problem. No reaction.
Lifestyles
Good idea but then my sims ends up loosing lifestyle and gets tense. I just feel like they are too easy to lose once you obtain them. I wish you had the option to lock one of the lifestyles you gain. So you can lose two of them but always have one you get to keep.
Interactions
Why must my sim introduce himself again to befriended sims. I think once they have a good enough relationship they would not be doing friendly introduction anymore. Conversations are quite limited. There needs to be more conversation branches.
Fighting
When my sims went off to University. A few sims picked fights with him. After the sims fight, both sims hugged each other then started chatting like they were best friends. This was the first time my sim met the sim. I was frantically looking under mean and mischief for an interaction to slap the sim or start another fight. That whole interaction makes no sense, to have sims fight then hug it out.
Smart Phone
I would really like to see landlines make a comeback in the game and if not then technophobe trait. I don't understand why every sim in the game are continually playing with their phones. It is annoying. An option not to have a smart phone would be nice, at least that way you could decide if you want your sim to have a smart phone. Also there is the computer as a way of communication by email.
Male Hairstyles
The game is lacking male hairs. As a female simmer who plays mostly with male sims, I don't want six female hairs in expansions and then only two male hairs. The game needs more variety of male hairs.
Thank you for the opportunity, Gurus. I'm not going to write much, since I read lots of things that I could say that people here just wrote... So:
1- More romantic interactions would be great; I'm not talking about whoo-hoo, but hugging, walking hand-in-hand, cuddling on bed, on sofas, slow dance, etc;
2- We need bigger worlds, with many lots. Henford is beautiful, but, at this point, we need more lots for placing restaurants, SPAS, gyms, stores, etc. We have lots of packs for using, but not enough space in the worlds...
3- Lots as the hospital, the police station, the lab, they should be open for visitors... Why limiting the gameplay?
4- I see a lot of people talking about lots of great things we had in TS2, TS3... I think it could inspire you to add lots of things from those games in TS4...
5- Please, stop reducing the amount of items in the packages... I feel that Henford could have been a game pack, not an expansion (that's how I feel, of course; but I have seen many people on Twitter saying the same). And object packs were more interesting than kits. Improve the packages, don't reduce the amount of stuff that comes in them. The size of the world Henford was VERY disappointing.
6 - Locking animals (cows and llamas) to objects were not cool... One animal shelter (like the one we have in the game) should have at least 6 animals inside... But the better should be to let us to make the space where they were going to live... Things are being made in a very limited way...
Sorry if I wrote things that were not what you expect. And sorry about my English too (not my mother language). But I really hope you read it and take something in consideration...
Best wishes to all of you!
Sool Sool! First of all, thank you for this opportunity and for listening to the community again!
1. Aspirations: although some are quite entertaining and challenging, but we need more complicated aspirations, with challenges that involve many hours of play and effort.
You can be inspired by challenges created by the community (legacy, not so berry, rags to riches, 7 babies...)
Also add job-focused aspirations. For example, if your Sim is an astronaut, the aspiration could be to reach the maximum level of the profession, build and improve the rocket to the maximum and complete the collections related to space travel, among others.
2. Traits: keep improving traits that give sims depth and personality, which not only influence their emotions, but also their relationships, jobs, skills, etc.
Solar Challengue has also been one of the best recent additions to the game and I think it has a lot of potential: adding a few new ones would be a great idea but there is one in particular that would be really nice.
3. Likes and Dislikes: This has been one of the best recent additions to the game, but it needs an overhaul.
Add more or more types of likes and dislikes. Also when our sims meeting other sims, likes and dislikes influence in a friendly and/or romantic way.
For example, if two sims share preferences, their relationship grows faster, both friendly and loving.
However, if two sims have different preferences, it will be easier for them to get along and argue.
4. Clothes: activates / deactivates the option to plan outfits in the closets / mirrors.
The sims could order clothes at home or visit the Izzy Fabulous caravan to change their look (hairstyle, clothes, makeup ...)
Then, the sims could change their appearance for a certain cost, but without access to a completely free and unrestricted CAS.
5. Jobs: first of all, if we have the Discover University expansion pack, we will have to have a university degree to access certain professions that would require them in real life.
In base game we can study the abilities requiere to enter in that specific profession.
To solve the lack of jobs without university degrees or abilities requierement, some part-time jobs could be added, such as cleaner, repair technician, with a poor level of habilities requierement.
To advance in our jobs, we would not only have to have a specific level in a skill, but also establish relationships with bosses and co-workers and fulfill some opportunity or extra works.
6. Overhaul of emotions: in this section it would be necessary to review the intensity of certain moods.
For example, if a sim dies, the sims around will be sad during the days of mourning, and no other emotions. In this example, emotions would decline faster, skills would rise more slowly, and job or scolar performance would be poor.
In this case, we must try to make our sims happy and fulfill their wishes to reduce the power of sadness and recover them from disgust as quickly as possible to prevent this from affecting their life.
That is, we need a greater impact of emotions and in a more realistic way.
7. More impact on the lives of our sims: here are some examples:
- Infants will have a season when they will feel sad, uncomfortable, angry or tense due to tooth growth. - Children will have a season where they will feel embarrassed by the loss of baby teeth. - Teens will have seasons in which they will feel embarrassed by acne, sad for not getting the love of their crush, angry to demand more privacy and freedom, tense or scared to grow up, etc. - Adults will have seasons in which they will feel sad, or tense due to the crisis of maturity. - The elderly will have seasons in which they will feel uncomfortable due to the pains of old age and fear due to the visit of the grim reaper. - Also, female Sims may have periods, and feel uncomfortable.
All of these seasons will have a negative impact on needs, abilities, work or school performance, relationships, etc. in a way, that will make the gameplay more complicated and deep in the sense of trying to help our sims to overcome their crises.
8. Adding Quests / Opportunities: As implemented in The Sims 3 or the errands introduced with Cottage Living, I think it would be a good opportunity to explore skills, collections, and earn money.
In addition, some chained missions could hide a mini-story behind in each world to know their secrets and those of their neighbors and receive a special reward for completing all the missions.
9. System of fears and desires: although in the game we already have the whims, we need a system that goes further based on the personality of our sims:
For example, by fulfilling wishes, we give them satisfaction points that they can exchange for rewards and they will obtain positive moods.
However, if the fears come true, we lose satisfaction points and we will receive negative moods.
In fact, this system would be a good place to introduce a "special need": mental health. If our sim has low this need, an iconic character from The Sims visits: the therapist.
10. Memory system: A memory system could determine the way our sims act, along with what I call personality evolution.
For example, if a Sim accumulates sad memories, he will acquire the melancholic trait and act accordingly.
If a Sim accumulates bad memories, he will acquire the irascible / rebellious trait and will act accordingly.
If a Sim accumulates good memories, he will acquire the cheerful trait and act accordingly.
Of course, the "negative traits" can be remedied, balancing the balance by generating positive memories.
(In this section, the overhaul of emotions and their powers and the improvement of traits also come into play)
In short, I think The Sims 4 lacks more powerful traits and emotions, that its effects in a more realistic way.
In addition, having to deal with solving crises or phases of life, fulfilling goals, desires and avoiding fears, balancing memories to maintain mental health, forging relationships that cost more effort and ifentering and moving up in jobs was more complicated, would be the challenge that we need, that is, to approach life as it is! :D
This is my personal decalogue of how to deepen and make The Sims 4 more challenging, I hope I have helped you and again, thank you for giving us this opportunity and serving your community. Dag Dag!
I'm the kind of player that plays with aging off, so after a while it becomes easy or boring. So I would like a bit more of struggle, financially and with relationships.
So I would like if the job payments were less and if they would be weakly payments, so if I get my bills but it's not my pay day yet and I don't have the money to pay the bills I would need to find another way to get the money. This could be a lot challenge. So I would have to sell crafts, candles, paintings, knits, get a side job, gigs, or I could take a loan and wait for my pay day.
It would also add a challenge if we could send our kids to private school that we would have to pay for, and if we had annual taxes that we would need to pay for, and this taxes would vary depending on the neighborhood. This way life would be more expensive and my sims wouldn't get so rich so fast.
Job interviews and something similar to what the actor career offers, you need to get a skill and do an interview, it would be nice if your sim needs to get dressed a certain way for the job interview, formal clothes for the lawyer or business career, and casual clothes for style influencer. Dress wrong, don't get the job. And it would be cool if not all positions are available when looking for a job, so if your sim wants to be chef they need to check everyday if there's an opening, meanwhile the bills are coming and if you don't find the job you have to do crafts, have a garden or something else to pay the bills.
Discover university did a good job in making studding be hard and believable, I think that's how the careers show feel like. And the simple living challenge is my favorite because it offers so much realness to the game.
Hey! Just wanted to say a quick thank you for allowing us to voice our opinions and give a little feedback.
•Sim shopping I think it would be great to be able to take your sim to the grocery store or local Farmers market for fresh grocerys or fun gifts. It will make for a more realistic shopping experience and the opportunity to run into friends enemy or a firty spouse..
•More events Expecting a baby? Why not throw a baby show! Miss your family? Have a family reunion! Sad over the passing of a loved one? Set up a small funeral to send them on their way. Maybe give the option for parents to throw a sleepover for their kid or teenage sims. Also if a sim is attending a event they should interact accordingly and voluntarily. I can't make every sim stop and watch the bride and groom get married.
•Robberies should make a comeback •Babysitters update babysitters should actually babysit. I think my biggest pet peeve is hiring a babysitter who doesn't actually babysit.
•Family actions are reactions Sims that are related should make more of a effort to hang out with family and do family oriented events together on their own. Even after moving out the house. Their relationships are different then friendships and their actions should reflect that. Example: coming over to each others houses for the holidays. (Christmas or thanksgiving with the family could even be a event option. ) spending the night over at their parents. Grandparents volunteering to watch the grandkids or even have them spend the night.
•Story progression It would be great if sim households I'm not playing would continue on by themselves. Divorces, affairs, marriages and kids should happen just like deaths even if I'm not playing that particular family. Did the sim you want your sim to marry get engaged? Guess you're going to have to find away to stop the marriage. Did Mr. Pancakes get caught cheating? Guess that's why Bella Goth is looks so glowy lately. Life should continue on for every sim.
. Multi sim transportation maybe a trolley car or bus system that sims can take and interact on for work, school, running errands or just hanging out with friends .
(English is not my native) It's really in the little things. I miss being able to be sent to jail. Cops. Burglars. Sims that pickpocket. I want every interaction to be unique in every reaction. More random phone calls, town gossip, cheating reputations. Random break-ups. My sims neighbors or friends who die. Funerals and BETTER WEDDINGS because when my male Sims marry his wife, he can not invite her friends and family which also brings me to better FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS, aunts, uncles, cousins, step-family, In-laws and make them all have feelings towards each other of their own. Make sims be able to react to cheating, make the kids react to the cheating. Let the parents teach the teens how to drive. Bring back school busses and work cars that pick up our sims in the morning. Bring back memories and give them to Townies for more depth and lore. Give our sims turn on and offs, preferences, wants, and fears and ESPECIALLY interests such as sports, sci-fi, animals fashion crime, culture. It would also improve Sims reactions and interactions towards each other. GIVE SIMS MORE TIME TO KNOW EACH OTHER!!! Make it more random. Have sims building a relationship. I once left my husband at the altar and there was NO reaction to it... Have Sims saying no to marriage proposals, have sims home-wreck families (on purpose or accident). Have Sims say no to other Sims even though they are in love with them BECAUSE they are married. Just bring more depth to romance, make it more complex and messy, dramatic etc. I also miss that I can send the parents on a random vacation so that the teens could throw parties. I miss being able to send kids and teens to boarding school. I want sims that REALLY struggle with money. Things such as inflations and crises. I want my sims to have crushes, one-sided love stories. I want shady townies back with actual background stories, relationships, secrets, crimes, etc. Keep the occult in their own world. Vampires in forgotten hollow, Witches in Glimmerbrook and the Magic Realm (also keep non-magic sims out of the magic realm PLEASEEEE), Aliens in Strangerville, Mermaids in Sulani, unless we make our occult sim and choose it to live elsewhere. I miss that my sim can buy real estate. We also need improvements on personality traits. Please make it more challenging, and let Sims that are outside our household interact with it, clash with eachother.
In the end, it all comes down to story progression and gameplay. And not only in our own households but also of Townies, NPC's, neighborhoods, worlds, etc. Also just make the game more random, harder to play (especially economically wise and when it comes down to relationships). And last, make the reactions of sims more in-depth and unique depending on their relationship towards each other, likes and dislikes, memories, and HOW WELL THEY KNOW EACH OTHER. I'm sorry for my bad english but thank you.
oh dear where do I begin... I'll just begin...somewhere.... and list about 10 things i can think of...
1. I wish sims wouldn't autonomously put out fires. at least when playing with autonomy off
its really upsetting when my spellcaster uses inferniate only to put the fire out 2 seconds later by themselves autonomously like um whats the point and its also very impossible to have fire related accident due to the fireman spies all ready to put it out any second like they all just carry around those fire safety stuff all day...
2. I also think the fire spreads waaaaaaaay too slowly but maybe there should be lot challenge or something on this
because i know some people don't want their whole house burning but.... in memory of sims1 and the wonderful dragons... i wish i could have whole house in flames..it would just feel so much more dangerous and nice and maybe id actually have accident sometimes
3. In vampires pack there is aspiration task "Survive for an Additional 20 Days as a Vampire "
I think this is really weird aspiration task because your sim basically just has to exist and nothing really threatens them
I think what would really make this all more deep and challenging would be if we had vampire hunter lot challenge where vampire hunter npc turns up trying to cure your vampire by battleing them and if your sim loses they'll get cured
just an idea
4. occult attacks = lot challenges
it has been a while since the vampires stopped attacking and aliens stopped abducting and evil witches never knocked on your door to begin with.... but it would be very nice to convert these things into lot challenges so people who like them could have them and people who never wanted them could ignore them and the two groups could live in harmony
5. speaking of which: toggle to turn off random townie generation. and possibility to set our own npc sims It would just be so nice for depth of the game if every sim could be someone you know
and also from the occult standpoint people should be able to delete/cure all vampires for example and not have game spawning more of them endlessly p_p it would solve many problems realism players have with occults and let occult players have their fun
6. sims romantic preferences
In short I believe there should be ways to make romance bit more challenging and/or completely impossible between 2 specific sims like for example if someone interested only in male sims was flirted on by female sim they wouldn't gain romance bar because they don't sync
+ i would love if there was a way to have sims that like occult behavior such as hissing and think its absolutely hottest thing on earth cause vlad deserves to be loved
7. Romance/couple interactions in general
it just feels this part of sim interactions is forgotten as a whole in the game as it is now and id like it to be so much more and so much deeper (slow dancing,snuggles, activities to do as a couple... just things that bring sims together)
8. burglars lot challenge. does it need explaining?
9. long term memories / being able to make sentiment permanent because as it is they fade too fast to really matter
10. better family trees that actually display everyone in the family dead or alive ... grandma being dead doesn't mean shes not grandma anymore you know
oh wait also +sims shouldn't constantly get super expensive rare collectibles for doing unrelated things cause it kind of defeats the purpose
Dear Sims 4 Team.
I'm one of the older generation and I play the Sims since 2001. I started with Sims 4 in 2004.
I do not want to list what has already been written, but I want to add a few more lines.
What I miss the most is a slow dance for our Sims and more romantic interactions, like earlier in Sims 2. Especially for my older couples I wish to have a slow dance, but of course for everyone else as well. People have been asking for a slow dance for almost seven years and we do not understand why this important part hasn't made a comeback yet into Sims 4. Sims 4 shouldn't just be CAS and party. In Sims 2 the little things has always been a reason for me to play for a long hours. It was so nice to watch my Sims slow dancing together at weddings or at home or even cuddling on the couch. Yes, they could also sit on eachothers lap and cuddle and even in bed. Couples could also hold hands while they slept. It's really the sweet little things that I miss so much. Also really reading in bed and chat in bed would be nice. And a real "Watch TV in Bed" function. What we have is not functional. It's just a pose with turn on TV animation, but they're not really watching. They don't care where the TV is at, they just stare straight ahead. - Thanks for reading.
„ - Criticism may not be agreeable, but it's sometimes necessary - “
Problem 1 – [b]Inconsequential and shallow illnesses[/b] (Get to Work). For example, my Sim got sick. I can definitely buy the all-powerful medicine that cures all the diseases and costs like a toilet paper, but it’s not necessary because my Sim will eventually get cured regardless. I strongly believe that there should be a deadly disease similar to Rabid Rodent Fever that Sims will have to treat at the clinic or by calling a doctor and having them come over. Doctors can prescribe a medicine, give a shot and charge for the visit afterwards. Plus, there should be different types of medicine depending on the sickness, with cost varying from cheap to expensive. It would add a bigger level of depth and realism to the illness system. [/quote] To piggyback off this point, the careers in Get to Work, specifically the Doctor and Detective careers, lack depth because unless you play with a sim in one of those careers, the career might as well not exist. Unless your sim is giving birth or is a doctor, Sims never go to the hospital lot. If our Sims get sick, they buy medicine, but we can’t go to the doctor. We can’t ask for a doctor to come to our lot to make a house call. Doctors won’t come to your lot if your Sim decides to have a home birth as a midwife might do in real life. The doctor career has no impact on a regular sim’s life. It’s the same with the detective career. If your pet runs away, you can’t call the police. If a klepto sim steals something from you, an officer doesn’t show up. We never see them patrolling in the neighborhoods of different worlds. Unless you’re playing the career, the police in the game might as well not exist. Even the scientist career, which admittedly is the one I enjoy the most, doesn’t affect much if your sim isn’t in the career. Even if I play as an alien, I never see scientists in my neighborhood or in any world looking for aliens. It literally has no impact on regular gameplay.
In Cats and Dogs, I can send my pets to the vet when the get sick, if I just want them to have a check up, or even if I just want to buy them the pet treats. I don’t have to be a vet for the vet to impact how I play the game. It’d be nice if the Get to Work careers would have had a similar impact.
I find it pretty disappointing that most careers and study courses are very superficial... These are usually so unrealistic that some of them are very reluctant to choose... What can you do?
1) There are no selectable careers for archaeologists, veterinarians or school teachers, although all the prerequisites for play are present. It shouldn't be difficult to implement. 2) The NPC careers should also be selectable. It should finally be an end to random assignments from NPC service Sims. These should then be selected from the existing Sims set as such. 3) There are no links between different packs. An NPC scientist from Strangerville is actually unemployed if he is then taken into the family. Then why doesn't he work as a scientist from Get To Work? 4) All NPC jobs should also be selectable for actively played Sims. Corresponding courses of study should also bring advantages for some of them. 5) Many univercity courses are superficial and not well thought out! You don't have to have studied psychology to become a university professor. It is also questionable for police officers. Why not start a new psychological career? The special teacher study course would also be recommended. Other courses of study are also conceivable (archeology, veterinary, chemistry, mathematics). Maybe also courses for butlers? 6) Many packs are ignored for promotions in many careers. The requirements are unrealistic or too simple. Fame, diploma or reputation are not taken into account. 7) It cannot be that one and the same nanny is used everywhere alone. How does she do it? Likewise butlers, gardeners and Co. They have to be tied to households or at least to the worlds or regions of the world. Otherwise is not realistic. 8) No random Sims should be used as magicians, aliens or vampires. It's frustrating. If a role is missing, a new SIM should be generated. Likewise for other NPCs. 9) It cannot be that all nannies have mastered all musical instruments at the perfect level. I don't think they should do that. A new NPC role is to be introduced for the care of children in music: music teacher who would only teach the children in music. 10) Why can't you hire the people you know in your own restaurant and shop? Maybe from your own household or friends? Why is there no connection to the sweet tooth career? 11) Why is there also no connection between the athlete career and NPC fitness coaches? In the end, all NPC are actually unemployed. Likewise, the NPC professors are not actually professors. NPC gardener and professional gardener career, apparate fitter and technology guru could also be combined... 12) Why can't you hire personal trainers, yoga teachers, stylists or private tutors for children in your own household (such as nannies or masseurs)? 13) More careers, even in old packs, would be very enriching for the game. All NPCs should be selectable. That would be fantastic. It would also be great if you could enter careers and career levels directly in the CAS when creating new Sims. And also the skills so that the newly created Sims are not empty. Or as an alternative: You just choose the job (industry / level) and the necessary skills are assigned sensibly but at random. 14) The university courses are also said to be more expensive. You can get a scholarship for anything anyway. There is also hardly any need to take out loans.
Hi, The Sims Team 👋. Thanks for opening this forum. Here are some of the things that I think would challenge gameplay and add depth to the game.
- There’s a mod called “Wonderful Whims” that adds an Attraction System to The Sims 4. In the vanilla game there isn’t any attraction between sims. Everyone is okay with everyone. I have to force my Sim to be romantic with other Sims and I don’t like that. I think if my Sim tells me who they like or unlike would make things much easier when it comes to pick a partner for them. Also, the possibilities of liking another Sim are practically endless. It can be based upon traits, hair color, skills, eye color, preferences, etcetera. I just think it would be a great addition to the game.
- More & better Aspirations and the return of Achievements. I don’t know why you stopped adding new Achievements. There were a few in Cats & Dogs back then but I haven’t seen new ones. I loved completing them. I also think they can definitely replace the Aspirations system of The Sims 4. So the milestones in the Aspirations turn into Achievements. That way, the Aspirations are just one step long and your Sim doesn’t have to go through all of the process it involves. I’m talking about Aspirations like “Earn 3 Degrees”, “Marry 10 Sims”, “Reach level 10 of _ Career” and so. For example, the Mt. Komorebi Sightseer Aspiration can be summed up into “Complete all hiking trails and stay Emotionally Mindful for a whole week”. I just consider the Aspirations are like tutorials for new packs. They feel like they don’t mean nothing to our Sims. They can be changed at any time. So, what’s the point? It would be more challenging if the Aspiration sticks with the Sim since their YA and they work their whole life to complete it. For example, I just aged up my Teen Sim to a YA. The game suggests me three Aspirations to choose based on Skills or Traits but I can also choose a different one or just randomize it! I pick “Reach level 10 of the Astronaut career and WooHoo 8 different Sims while in a Rocket Ship”. Maybe my Sim completed their Aspiration before becoming Elder so the game suggests me a new one. Or an Achievement to make my Sim set their life goal one more time. So, let’s say, now I choose the Achievement to WooHoo with a ghost. My Elder Sim has a new challenging thing to do with their life. I would be so happy if you guys consider this idea. And I know many Simmers would be too.
- Replacing Whims for a more polished Wants System. Instead of things your Sim wishes to do right now, could be wants more meaningful ones like: become a Spellcaster, move out (if your Sim is YA or Adult and living with their parents), Adopt a Cat/Dog and Join _ Career. I have the idea of changing the UI for the whims. I don’t like how they are little clouds of thoughts above my Sim. It seems like they’re insignificant. And they’re not. Looking at past games for example, your Sim could have up to four Wants at a time and they were all meaningful to their lives. Maybe they could take a bigger space of the UI so there can be more of them. Or even adding a Fear System like in previous games. I think it would make such a big difference in gameplay because every Sim just seems to wish for the same things over and over. It can be a bit boring over time. However, a Wants System can differentiate Sims in a more in-depth way. So, for example, my Active Sim wants to go to the Gym or become Energized. Or my Lazy Sim wants to watch TV for 3 hours or watch 2 different movies. Or my Noncommittal Sim wants to quit their job or break up with their partner.
Those were just a few ideas I’ve been having for a while now. I think they can absolutely make the game more challenging and fun! And I know you guys would do an awesome job if you decide to put them in the game at some point.
Three traits slots is not enough. I heard we were limited so sims don't get too many moodlets and act same-y. But sims are pretty much the same, and the focus on moodlets over traits has hurt sims. You've seen how positive people were when traits were buffed to impact autonomy and personality.
But we also have traits that are meaningless or reflect such a small part of someone's identity (Lactose Intolerant in Cottage Living, Neat in the base game when things rarely get dirty, liking cats or dogs in Cats & Dogs), that it's a waste to give it to your sim. You could get away with this in Sims 3, but they had five trait slots, so you could afford it. Basically, we need more trait slots.
We also need more traits. The Sims 3 base game had about as much traits as all of Sims 4 does, including its EPs, GPs and SPs.
Likes/Dislikes were a good addition, but I think Hobbies should be changed to Skills, and Hobbies (activities that don't have skills associated with them, like reading, playing chess or cleaning) get their own category.
Dietary concerns (veganism, lactose intolerance, allergies), favorite foods and feelings on the occult could be their own categories. Especially the latter - having sims openly hate or like occult Sims would be a big boon for stories, and could make it more challenging for occult sims to live their lives.
Favorite book genres and art categories?
Individual bios. This was the biggest thing in fleshing out a sim's personality and backstory in Sims 1-3. A shared household bio doesn't work.
Visible and customizable gender preferences.
And maybe an optional way to shape a sim's identity. Punk, Geek, Jock, Slacker, Go-Getter, etc. I'd love a unifying theme to tie our sims together, while still having depth and uniqueness in personality. This could help our sims find like-minded sims, be disliked and stereotyped by sims on the opposite spectrum. But honestly, this is just fluff if traits and relationships aren't fixed. I don't care too much about this, it's just a suggestion I'm throwing out.
Fears. Fears could trigger scared moodlets, have sims reject player control to hide if they're too frightened, and maybe they could even throw pop-ups at the player, yelling at them for making them confront their fears. It could be like the likes/dislikes system, where almost drowning, seeing a fire or being scared by a ghost could give you the option of making a sim afraid of them.
tl;dr: More traits, more trait slots, and using the likes/dislikes system to supplement traits and change a sim's daily life. This would make sims feel more unique and personalized.
Gameplay
Collectible pets (turtles, fish, frogs) are useless. They don't feel realistic, they're just decorations. Collectibles stink in general. But making them like rodents would make them interesting. Being able to befriend them, feed them and bond with them (like we could in Sims 3) could add some challenge, give some depth to gameplay, give us a reason to invest in collecting, and (partially) make up for Cats & Dogs not having small pets. Also if you want to introduce Sims 1-esque dragons as small pets, I would not be upset. They would provide a lot of depth, challenge and fun.
It feels weird that our sims can be famous authors, but no sim would even know, They can't buy copies of your book, get merch, or anything. Get Famous makes them famous-famous, but you have little influence or impact. I want people to read about my sim's dragon stories.
Whims are good - they at least add some direction in playing a Sim. We do need proper wants/fears, but until we get it, whims are a decent substitute.
Sims 3 let us talk to our bosses and co-workers, Sims 2 had us chat with co-workers and invite them home. Maybe we can chat them up outside of work out and that could impact our work performance. We could have hot-headed bosses that are hard to get along with, or snobby bosses who will judge your house if it looks bad.
More consequences. If you're enemies with a sim and constantly attack them, and have a bunch of negative sentiments, it shouldn't be easy for you to call them up and befriend them, or give them a goodbye hug. They should spread rumors about you, knock over your trash, prank call you, stop by just to lecture you, etc. Similarly, cheating on your significant other only provides small relationship hit and a chance at bad sentiments. This is a huge breach of trust and respect from the person you trusted most - it should damage the relationship in a huge way.
(Assuming your sim reciprocated - Partners shouldn't assume a sim is cheating because someone flirted WITH THEM, and they have no option of declining flirts.)
My trait stuff should make sims more unique, but let's give them more unique lifestyles and experiences. Freelancing and lot challenges help here, but they need more unique paths in life. Things that can break up the monotony.
Kids don't have much to do. Very few unique experiences, with limited skill sets and activities. They're just adults, but boring. They need unique experiences, like phases from Parenthood or Voidcritter collection. As these are a sim's formative years, they should be growing and experiencing a ton of things. Bullies, first crushes, lemonade stands, fandom wars, sneaking out at night and risk getting into trouble, after-school activities, raising dragons, and various hobbies would help give them realistic, deep experiences and make them more fun to play.
Random event tragedies: robberies, illness and disease, being attacked by a dragon, etc. Optional, but big changes that can set a sim back or traumatize them.
Dates and Parties are all the same; they're based on completing set goals, instead of doing them however you want. We should be able to socialize and have fun the way we want, like in The Sims 2.
tl;dr: Focus on unique creating unique experiences for sims, fleshing out systems already in place, and giving me back my boy, Torch,
Post edited by Gordy on
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
For me it’s not that the game lacks challenge, any sims game is only as challenging as you allow it to be, such as not using cheats or controlling a big family, but that it lacks depth of consequences. Everything in sims 4 is “this happened, so here’s a small moodlet for a few hours or days.” It’s too shallow of a system. I want things to happen based on what I have my sims do. I want reactions from things. I want consequences. I want to feel that what I have my sims do matters in the grand scheme of their lives. Sims 2 was great with this with the aspiration meter, aspiration failure, and lifetime happiness meter.
I also want random chaos. Sims never die unless you purposely force it. Sims never get fired unless you force it. Sims never lose friends or create enemies unless you force it. I want more autonomy in the game and the consequences that come from it. I don’t want to be responsible and in control of every single thing that happens. I want random chaos as well.
For me those are the two biggest things missing in Sims 4. Solid consequences. And random chaos.
Thanks for taking the time to listening to what the community has to say. Scanning through these comments must be a lot of work so I tried to keep it short, but there is so much to think of! For me the Sims 4 gameplay is not challenging at all. Everything is too easy, there are hardely any consequences and therefore the gameplay is just quickly becoming repetitive and boring. When I play I tend to build most of the time because live-mode always feels like I end up doing the same thing over and over. So to improve this I suggest the following things:
- Money comes too easy: A job, painting, writing, gardening, collecting, etc. all can get you so much money in so little time (and the only thing you spend it on is new stuff and some bills). Make it harder to get money fast. For example: it's great to get some money from selling your paintings, but making expert paintings within a week and selling them for hundreds of dollars per piece is not realistic. It should be a side job untill you've progressed enough to actually make a living out of it. Limit the amount of paintings you can sell in a certain period of time or lower the prices they receive for them. Make it more difficult to sell the stuff you've made, make them go to a store or gallery to sell the stuf they've made or collected.
- Make more stuff cost money than just building and the bills: Just make stuf cost money when they are done by your Sim: like traveling, groceries, buying books to read, internet&tv, insurance for replacing furniture in case of a fire, tickets to attend a festival, have all items slowly detoriate over time so they need to be replaced from time to time. And make sure it is clear what is costing money in the bills overview and what things can your Sim save on when they are on a budget.
- Building a house and buying land is way too cheap. Landprices are unrealisticly low. To overcome the inital costs of buying a house and land you could work with a mortage system that your Sim can pay off slowly over time. And you could even make it mandatory that you need a certain level of income from your job before you can get a mortage for each amount. Building a house should cost way more, usually the furniture that is placed inside it costs more than the house itself. And why on earth are roofs free? :)
- Relationships are too easy: If my Sim can marry any random Sim I encounter within a day, what are the stakes? I can call up any Sim at every time of the day and they'll come over. Putting back the turn-on and turn-offs would help (and actually make them have an effect: if my Sims is repulsed by Sims with green hair, that should mean that they refuse to start a romantic relationship with a person that has green hair right?). Have sims gain relationships faster if they are compatible (in age, job, interests, likes/dislikes, hobby's) or slower if they have traits that aren't. Have the romance bar progress much slower or limit the amount of romantic interactions that can be used in a day. Or enforce some time of 'engaged' period before the 'marry' option even becomes available.
- Entry requirements for jobs: Why can my Sim have any job he wants by just giving that company a call? (Whish it would work like that in real life!) Put in some requirements like skill level, certain traits, education or previous experience in and have a job interview that has a chance of landing the job if you have certain aspects. And if you fail the interview: put in a cooldown of a couple of days before you can try again.
- Traits actually need to have an effect on your Sim's live: Now they usually only trigger a small interaction or small restriction which is easily overcome. For real challenging gameplay: make more negative traits that make the game harder. Some examples: make your Sim less intelligent which makes them read slower and gain logic skill slower, have them be akward in relationships which will have negative impact on making friends, let them be impulsive spenders so that they spend more than necessary, let them be stinky so people don't want to be around them for a long time. Best of all: make some things acutally unavailable to Sims with certain traits. Are they not artistic? No writing or painting. Clumsy?Cannot ever learn a handiness skill. Lazy: will not ever gain any fitness points. Or only have them top out at level 5 so they will never excell at it.
- Every Sim is equally good at every skill: My Sim can easily become a bestseling Author, and so can my neighbour Sim and the next one that I make. This feels bland and boring. Not everyone is good at the same things. Make the Sims gain skills slower or faster based on their traits, education or even childhood experiences.
- Random negative or difficult events: Nothing really bad happens in the Sims unless you initate it yourself. The lot challenges are a good step in that direction with things breaking and becoming filthy. But more random difficulties for your Sims can be put in without it being an actuall lot-related thing. Thes diffuculties cannot be fixed, your Sim just has to deal with it. For example: an annoying boss that makes you work unpaid overtime, a neighbour that keeps playing loud music (like in city living but also in neighbourhoods), teens that kick your garbagecan or vandilize your yard, being forced to move because of your job (or losing the job if you don't move), burglars that steal stuff, etc.
- Lasting consequenses of your Sims actions in the game. Is your Sim being a bully at the park? Then they can get banned from visiting. Did they break up with their fiance at the altar? Bad reputation and cannot easily find a new partner to marry. Got zapped when fixing your computer, now your Sim is fearfull of electronics and doesn't want to repair it anymore. Got fired or quit a job: cannot restart that carreer anymore because they don't want your Sim back. etc.
I understand that not all players might want these things to be always in their game. So you could make some of them optional or have players select the difficulty level while playing. E.g. easy, moderate and hard. And for each of the aspects you could make it more difficult to gain money, make things more expensive, higher entry level requirements for jobs, traits have a more severe impact on how quickly you gain skills, etc.
Comments
My following points are probably already mentioned: But I am still here to emphasize the most important points:
I like how the Sims 4 is mostly made in a write-it-yourself way, meaning you are the author and nothing big happens without you. It is just not really sustainable in my opinion.
Here are some ways the game could be improved for me and the reasoning behind it:
So I did notice that the most fun and memorable part of the sims are the ones I cannot control. Alien Obductions for one: they really give you a thrill of not knowing what happens next. This risk factor and these coincidences are important to me, because it makes the same story different each time. Most Sim-Players have this "Same-Sim-Syndrome" - where we make the same kind of sims everytime and play through similar stories.
So i would like more coincidences. More drama. More death. Decisions that are impactful of life. Some ideas i have that could be implemented easily:
Teenagers randomly and autonomously starting drama and fights with their parents just because. (I am a teenager myself and hormones just go overboard sometime ok)
Consequences: We have a nice criminal system already, but our sims just never are prisenors themselves. I think starting a lot of physical fights could lead to a prison life. I heard that the packs are getting updated, so this is just a little Food for Thought.
Illnesses that are serious, maybe ones that handicap your sim as well (but not real life diseases since this is still the sims)
Mental Breakdowns - I like the "Writers Block" and similar to this, other skills you do a lot could be blocked as well.
The sentiments already add this kind of wishes to the game and improve the game a lot - although they still have unused potentials.
Next, I think the game is a little dull when you play for generations in a world- i want my neighbors to get pregnant, my friends to have affairs with each other and get married, have fights, harder times building romantic relationships, my plants to die... I want drama outside the world, maybe some Gossip features with my neighbours, sims get married on their own - this includes some features MCCC already has. I think some features of that should be considered adding in the base game.
To sum it up - I think the most most fun thing about playing The Sims is making a irl Person and then telling them "Look, your sim decided to do this random thing, or that random thing..." Like - a little more randomness, because life really is unpredictable.
I think the Sims Community are some of the most wholesome people ever. I love the game and can't wait for patches!!!
I think you’ve gotten better about this but please do not rely solely on the emotion for results to an event or action. My best example is the vodoo doll, which needs an overhaul IMO. In past games, when a Sim used the doll, you’d see something physically happening to the victim. In Sims 4, the victim gets an emotional buff related to what’s on happening with very little physical reaction or a reaction that’s muted or feels inappropriate for what was done to them. I want to see a Sim reacting as if someone was physically poking them or they get soaked with water as if someone poured it over them. This specific example is the best way I could explain how I feel about the way emotions are too often used over physical, animated consequence instead of as an enhancement. I enjoy emotions more than a lot of Simmers. I love seeing facial expressions change and body language change, but often it’s just the change registering in the corner of the UI instead of with my Simon screen. Please keep improving that. Thank you.
I also think the NPC's could add more to the game, rather than just showing up at your door randomly. I would like to see more of a "story progresssion" mode where NPC's make decisions and can get jobs on their own.
1. Smaller variants of the different objects. It fails to amaze me that we're 7 years in and we still have a giant 🐸🐸🐸🐸 observatory instead of a telescope(yes, we have star/cloud gazing with OR, but that really shouldn't be the only reason people should be getting a pack), giant microscopes that don't fit in a normal room for a lab. Then we have packs like Fitness stuff that only has a climbing wall that only works if you either have the entire floor as the tallest wall height or you make the area where you want to place it be 2 stories high just to accomodate it. Smaller varaints of these items could fix it.
2. Have kits work as a way to enhance gameplay: as in with this whole pack refreshes, use kits to provide different styled variants of gameplay items from the pack while still being a B/B kit or bring more variety to the CAS so like a CAS kit that comes with the Spa Day refresh that gives us more masc framed crop tops or a kit that could work with DHD and gives us either more modular stuff(on the B/B side) or more kilts/skirts for the masc frame(on the CAS side). Just don't have the kits feel like a MFP situation, where you intentionally leave stuff out of the pack refresh/update to put into the kit(s).
3. I honestly would love if we could get a proper statement on plantsims, like something telling us that they might get a proper overhaul so they actually feel indepth like they did in previous games. most simmers don't even realize they exist in the sims 4 as they are a temporary lifestate that just currently feels like aliens in sims 2 but temporary.
4. Aspirations in the sims 4 have become just a tutorial of the pack it is introduced in. It'd be lovely if we got more that was a bit more of a challenge and wasn't for some players completed in just a few hours then just not used much on other sims unless its for the sake of a story.
5. CAS variety. When I heard we were getting more stuff for masc sims in CLV, I was excited, but it was lost when it ended up being more of the same. Masculine humans irl have more variety in their clothes, so why are masc sims stuck in the same few styles with the only skirts being in IL, the only kilt being in DHD(not even a proper kilt) and the only crop tops that are made to fit masc framed sims the best in Spa Day. This doesn't cover the fact there are too little variety in hairstyles, since it feels like the team doesn't look at the hairstyles they've given masc sims in previous packs and just make more of it. I constantly have to use hairstyles marked feminine on my masculine sims if I want variety, this shouldn't always be the case, even if trying to make masc nonbinary sims who use the masc frame.
1. I don’t get why their is still never been a graveyard added to the sims 4, it would be so nice visit an actually place in the open world that is a graveyard than make it yourself everytime. And you could see other npcs graves even than
2. Also it would nice they change how gravestones work, cause now if my family or a friend dies that doesn’t live with my current household, I have no way to actually make them still a working grave stones. It would be nice their is a place where you could get every sims who dies gravestone.
3.A cherry on top would be if their was an option to actually gave your sims a funeral.
4. Also would be nice if their can more ways for your sim to die
More depth in Family
1. A way for npc to have also families that expand when you are playing, would be fun to see them get married and get invited to that wedding. Or see sims getting pregnant or adopt sims. Also family tree for npc with more sims on it than only the current household, sims 3 done this allot and you even could visit the graves than.
2. A way to have a family portrait without taking an actually picture with your sims, their now mods for this. But I believe it is a really nice way to have family portrait of your sims, without building a whole photo studio in your house. Also when you take a picture one sim is always left out from your household.
More depth in world
1. Would be nice to see random npcs you know or don’t know in the world getting engaged or see them get married somewhere if you weren’t invited than. Just seeing other npc living a life makes the game feel real. Also you never see npcs really hanging out with their kids in the world. They always apart if they are even in the same town than.
2. Making the other vacation worlds playable without mods would also be so nice for story telling.
The main concern about all of this though, even if there are challenges that are sufficient, is that everything feels to static.
A new level of depth to the game would be more animations for walking, and more things of accessibility in the base game.
What I mean by this, is, more things for sims to do at home.
This is a pretty open idea, and like others say, an expanded emotion system and better NPC AI integration would make the game feel like it has more depth.
This is an issue for me because I feel like I just have tasks. I make my sims to 30 things and when there’s a lot of things and challenges, I just speed my game to 3 until I get their needs met and then I’m kind of stressed and bored.
When it came to a game like the sims 3, there was always a lot to check out and I didn’t speed my game because I really liked seeing what was around me and didn’t want to miss out on the action everywhere else.
I would like to see the individual age groups have more things specifically locked for them. The furthest you guys have achieved into depth was toddlers. But with this being said, with the current emotions and traits, it feels repetitive fast.
I hope this can help, and hey, if EA allows you guys to ever visit The Sims 3 again, the payoff would be great and maybe would consolidate more budget for The Sims 5, being that The Sims 3 is still an unfinished experience for a lot of players due to the bugs. Just an open idea.
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Thank you Sims Team for doing something like this! We can now voice our opinions in easy for you to see it way. Sorry, if the post will be chaotic, I hardly ever write that long texts in foreign language and I'm kinda stressed that I write something grammatically incorrect lol.
First I would like to give propositions for giving the game more depth, and later I will talk about more challenging gameplay.
Depth:
* Sims in TS4 sadly have very shallow personality. Traits, that were supposed to make their whole personality are doing almost nothing. Most of them add only a little and forgettable moodlet and a small amount of new interactions in the pie menu. It's not enough.
* Aspirations. Please, make aspiration more like in the previous sims games. Aspirations were always a goal, that Sim wanted to achieve in their life. Now aspirations seems more like a tutorials, rather then things our character wants do accomplish. Good example is Fabulously Filthy aspiration from Bust The Dust kit. Does my Sim's only goal in their life atm is wanting to leave food to spoil and show whole world how dirty their house is by throwing party in it? I don't think so (Unless our sim has such a boring life that it really is their only goal in life). Redoing aspirations system would really add more depth to the game cause Sims would have an actual goal they want to achieve in their life. Personally, I think that aspirations should be more like a path that leads to a huge goal at the end and a perfect aspiration system would be a mix of Sims 2, 3 and 4 systems.
* WHIMS. Why have you forgotten about them? They were the only thing in the game that let Sims decide what they wanted to do right now. But sadly you stopped adding new whims after Seasons came out and I think they are wasted potential. They add depth to a game by letting the Sims choose what they want to do. To me, whims must be based on the Sims aspiration, likes and dislikes, traits, current relationships etc. because right now it doesn't really make sense that my Sim without a Loves Outdoors trait wants to Buy a Bee Box out of nowhere.
* Redo emotion system and make events like death more impactful. Who cares that your mom recently died in a house fire and your spouse cheated on you with a mailman? You're happy because your house is clean, your needs are full and your favorite music is playing on the radio. Emotions like sadness, anger, tension and embarrassment shouldn't be that easily empowered by small happy or playful moodlets. Same goes with the moodlets coming from likes and dislikes. I remember laughing when during a gameplay livestream for Dream Home Decorator, Sim Guru had to remove a happy moodlet to prevent Sim from dancing to the music they disliked. I think you saw a problem there. Redoing emotions would add so much depth to the game cause it would make certain events and strong emotions more impactful (also please make cheating more impactful on our Sims lives, we're begging).
* Improve relationships. To me it's to easy to fall in love/make a friends/best friends etc. Also it should be easier to make an enemy then friend for me. It would be also cool if you expand relationships (idk if it is a good way to describe it). For example make crushes one sided and then later let them become two sided or make it possible for one Sim to see another as a friend, but another sees them as an enemy. It would be great for storytelling or just regular gameplay.
* Add more family gameplay. Parenthood added a lot of great stuff for families and I can't imagine playing without that expansion pack. But we need more, I'm saying that as a family player. My sim families often don't have really nothing to do because of the lack of family content. It would bring more depth and fun to the game.
* Make diseases more relevant. Right now they only give Sims one moodlet and a funny looking scars at the body. Diseases should be more serious, for example, they should be able to kill you, evolve into more serious ones and your Sim would must go to the hospital. Also delete this magical medicine that cost as much as nothing and it can cure everything (or at least make it work only on non serious diseases) and instead let Sims actually go to the doctor.
Now I'm gonna talk about making game more challenging
* TS4 is to easy. It's super simple to make an YA in Cas, get them a job, promote them to the 10th level and let them bath in cash like Scrooge McDuck. It's to easy. When you have all needed things for a promotion, you will always get it. There's no challenge. Jobs are very undemanding in this game and this need to be changed. Also, it's to easy for Sims to get a lots of money. Jobs have huge wages, strangers can send you 2k as a gift for lending them 1k first, people that you don't know can spontaneously call to your sim and propose them jobs on an absurdly high level (which happens to often) etc. etc.
* This game also need more random events, for example random deaths or accidents. Shockingly it is hard to truly neglect a Sim in this game. The game will send you warnings when your Sim is about to die from, for example heat, which kills the surprise and fun. Sims also to slow die from hunger, so it's almost impossible to kill them that way by accident. Same with school. In order for social workers to come for your kid, they must be absent from school for about 2 weeks. Oh c'mon, there's no way that someone would do it by accident. This feature is so hard to accomplish, that could easily be removed and nobody would bat an eye on it.
* Speaking on more random events I'd like to give propositions on what could be added and/or changed:
- Burglars. Sims in TS4 have rich houses from all that money they received from strangers, that there's no way burglars wouldn't be interested in robing them. Burglars will add so much randomness and fun to the game and many sims players would appreciate this feature to be once again in a game.
- I think our Sim's friends should be able to send them more random messages than a simple "Hey can I come to youuuuuuu???????" or "Hey come to meeeeeeee!!". It's unrealistic. Adding more features like that would make telephone system more interesting cause right now I almost never use it.
- Re-introduce school bus and carpool that our Sim can miss and they would have to walk to school/work on foot. This event would also add a sad moodlet for them.
- Make demotion in work possible (or more frequent if something like that already exist).
- Social workers should appear in person to take away child (this would be cool and realistic) and also they should come faster then now. For example, it takes about 15 hours from warning notification about your hungry kid, to them being taken away. It's definitely to long.
- Attraction. Please give us attraction system. And also make it random. It would be great if a teenager had it randomized right after their birthday and that we couldn't change it. Here's a list of my propositions of turn on's and offs: Hair color (colors that we right now have + option for cc hair colors), eye color (colors that we right now have + option for cc eyes), body type, traits, likes and dislikes, occult, skills, job, makeup (including whole face makeup), accessories etc.
And that's it. I know it kinda short but I don't really need anything more to be improved in this game.
I would like to see a WANTS & FEARS system to sims 4 (improved Whims system).
The Wants / Fears could be impacted by Traits / Experiences / LIFE DIRECTIONS
(choosen & temporarily goals, similar to ASPIRATIONS sims 2).
LIFE DIRECTIONS - Have up to 2 different Directions (Aspirations) ongoing at the same time. The Directions will give your sim negative & positive whims (want & fears), complete and gain / lose Satisfaction points + Meaningfullness points + Self-esteem points.
Pick 2 Directions from following categories:
(They can all be from the same category or from different categories):
1. Family 2. Romantic 3. Pleasure 4. Career 5. Money 6. Popularity 7. Knowledge
8. Power 9. Hedonism 10. Goodness 11. Spiritual & Personal development
12. Health & Wellbeing 13. Vanity 14. Evilness 15. Criminality 16. Nature & Wildlife 17. Animals
18. Travels & Experiences 19. Interest & Hobbies 20. Close Relations 21. Creativity
22. Random (you will have the possibility to choose which directions to randomize from if you don´t want all of them)
At the end of your sims lifetime, their tombstone will show what Direction your sims found as most important (what directions they mostly picked) and what Direction your sim was mostly successful in. You can change your sims Directions at any time.
A sim that goes for a longer period of time without completing any whims / Quest wants will get the moodlet Life feels meh (+1 Bored and Decreasing Meaningfulness points).
LIFE STRUGGLES PACK
Not much to do for my Sims when they visit areas outside of the house. The Sims 3, I liked going somewhere and quickly going to the next spot and exploring. In the latest expansion pack, going to the fair without bringing something from home will just kind of have your sim standing there, and I can’t make much memories!
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So here we are, and there is a lot of content out there that adds to the game. I took a break for a long time from Sims 4. I have never done that with any sim game. I went off to play Call of Duty, Dragon age games and Division. Let me just say I have been a simmer since Sims 1. I was late to Sims 2, I ended up getting Sims 3, then 2 and I loved the Sims 2. I was excited for Sims 4 and even more excited after playing the demo.
Anyway I come back and there are likes and dislikes. I thought this might be interesting but it just annoys me because if a sim hates fitness, why do they keep doing fitness interactions and music stations. I found my sims hate a station but will continue to stay in the same room and listen to the station. The sims become uncomfortable and then angry. The worst example of this is sims who don't like dancing, when another sim turns the stereo on the sim who hates dancing will start dancing until I end that interaction. Here is my point. Why bother to have likes and dislikes if it's just going to be ignored and the sim is going to do the very thing they hate. My sim who hates dancing, maxed out the dancing skill.
Traits
They are far too little of them and they shouldn't be exclusive to expansion packs or stuff packs. Sims are really lacking in traits that use to make them unique. Three traits for an adult sim. Yes there are other traits in the reward system but these traits are lacking any real depth. I love the Introvert trait in CAS but where is the shy trait or neurotic. More traits would build a more complete and unique sim.
Relationships
They don't seem to matter to the sim. Sims flirt all the time, sometimes right in front of their partner and the partner Sim just carries on doing daily tasks. Would it be so hard to have an reaction like Unflirty sims have sometimes when someone wants to hug them, they shake their head and put their hands up like they are pushing them back. Also the sim should get an upset moodlet and other sim should get been caught moodlet. Anything would be better than how it is now. I don't want to waste a trait slot to make my sim have the jealous trait just to get a reaction when their partner cheats. Having said that, my sim had the jealous trait and all he did was wonder what his partner was up to because he was not with him. Then when the free love action plan was in action he kissed female sims in front of his partner and watched his partner kiss female sims. Not a peep out of him, and there is the problem. No reaction.
Lifestyles
Good idea but then my sims ends up loosing lifestyle and gets tense. I just feel like they are too easy to lose once you obtain them. I wish you had the option to lock one of the lifestyles you gain. So you can lose two of them but always have one you get to keep.
Interactions
Why must my sim introduce himself again to befriended sims. I think once they have a good enough relationship they would not be doing friendly introduction anymore. Conversations are quite limited. There needs to be more conversation branches.
Fighting
When my sims went off to University. A few sims picked fights with him. After the sims fight, both sims hugged each other then started chatting like they were best friends. This was the first time my sim met the sim. I was frantically looking under mean and mischief for an interaction to slap the sim or start another fight. That whole interaction makes no sense, to have sims fight then hug it out.
Smart Phone
I would really like to see landlines make a comeback in the game and if not then technophobe trait. I don't understand why every sim in the game are continually playing with their phones. It is annoying. An option not to have a smart phone would be nice, at least that way you could decide if you want your sim to have a smart phone. Also there is the computer as a way of communication by email.
Male Hairstyles
The game is lacking male hairs. As a female simmer who plays mostly with male sims, I don't want six female hairs in expansions and then only two male hairs. The game needs more variety of male hairs.
Thanks for listening.
1- More romantic interactions would be great; I'm not talking about whoo-hoo, but hugging, walking hand-in-hand, cuddling on bed, on sofas, slow dance, etc;
2- We need bigger worlds, with many lots. Henford is beautiful, but, at this point, we need more lots for placing restaurants, SPAS, gyms, stores, etc. We have lots of packs for using, but not enough space in the worlds...
3- Lots as the hospital, the police station, the lab, they should be open for visitors... Why limiting the gameplay?
4- I see a lot of people talking about lots of great things we had in TS2, TS3... I think it could inspire you to add lots of things from those games in TS4...
5- Please, stop reducing the amount of items in the packages... I feel that Henford could have been a game pack, not an expansion (that's how I feel, of course; but I have seen many people on Twitter saying the same). And object packs were more interesting than kits. Improve the packages, don't reduce the amount of stuff that comes in them. The size of the world Henford was VERY disappointing.
6 - Locking animals (cows and llamas) to objects were not cool... One animal shelter (like the one we have in the game) should have at least 6 animals inside... But the better should be to let us to make the space where they were going to live... Things are being made in a very limited way...
Sorry if I wrote things that were not what you expect. And sorry about my English too (not my mother language). But I really hope you read it and take something in consideration...
Best wishes to all of you!
1. Aspirations: although some are quite entertaining and challenging, but we need more complicated aspirations, with challenges that involve many hours of play and effort.
You can be inspired by challenges created by the community (legacy, not so berry, rags to riches, 7 babies...)
Also add job-focused aspirations. For example, if your Sim is an astronaut, the aspiration could be to reach the maximum level of the profession, build and improve the rocket to the maximum and complete the collections related to space travel, among others.
2. Traits: keep improving traits that give sims depth and personality, which not only influence their emotions, but also their relationships, jobs, skills, etc.
Solar Challengue has also been one of the best recent additions to the game and I think it has a lot of potential: adding a few new ones would be a great idea but there is one in particular that would be really nice.
3. Likes and Dislikes: This has been one of the best recent additions to the game, but it needs an overhaul.
Add more or more types of likes and dislikes. Also when our sims meeting other sims, likes and dislikes influence in a friendly and/or romantic way.
For example, if two sims share preferences, their relationship grows faster, both friendly and loving.
However, if two sims have different preferences, it will be easier for them to get along and argue.
4. Clothes: activates / deactivates the option to plan outfits in the closets / mirrors.
The sims could order clothes at home or visit the Izzy Fabulous caravan to change their look (hairstyle, clothes, makeup ...)
Then, the sims could change their appearance for a certain cost, but without access to a completely free and unrestricted CAS.
5. Jobs: first of all, if we have the Discover University expansion pack, we will have to have a university degree to access certain professions that would require them in real life.
In base game we can study the abilities requiere to enter in that specific profession.
To solve the lack of jobs without university degrees or abilities requierement, some part-time jobs could be added, such as cleaner, repair technician, with a poor level of habilities requierement.
To advance in our jobs, we would not only have to have a specific level in a skill, but also establish relationships with bosses and co-workers and fulfill some opportunity or extra works.
6. Overhaul of emotions: in this section it would be necessary to review the intensity of certain moods.
For example, if a sim dies, the sims around will be sad during the days of mourning, and no other emotions. In this example, emotions would decline faster, skills would rise more slowly, and job or scolar performance would be poor.
In this case, we must try to make our sims happy and fulfill their wishes to reduce the power of sadness and recover them from disgust as quickly as possible to prevent this from affecting their life.
That is, we need a greater impact of emotions and in a more realistic way.
7. More impact on the lives of our sims: here are some examples:
- Infants will have a season when they will feel sad, uncomfortable, angry or tense due to tooth growth.
- Children will have a season where they will feel embarrassed by the loss of baby teeth.
- Teens will have seasons in which they will feel embarrassed by acne, sad for not getting the love of their crush, angry to demand more privacy and freedom, tense or scared to grow up, etc.
- Adults will have seasons in which they will feel sad, or tense due to the crisis of maturity.
- The elderly will have seasons in which they will feel uncomfortable due to the pains of old age and fear due to the visit of the grim reaper.
- Also, female Sims may have periods, and feel uncomfortable.
All of these seasons will have a negative impact on needs, abilities, work or school performance, relationships, etc. in a way, that will make the gameplay more complicated and deep in the sense of trying to help our sims to overcome their crises.
8. Adding Quests / Opportunities: As implemented in The Sims 3 or the errands introduced with Cottage Living, I think it would be a good opportunity to explore skills, collections, and earn money.
In addition, some chained missions could hide a mini-story behind in each world to know their secrets and those of their neighbors and receive a special reward for completing all the missions.
9. System of fears and desires: although in the game we already have the whims, we need a system that goes further based on the personality of our sims:
For example, by fulfilling wishes, we give them satisfaction points that they can exchange for rewards and they will obtain positive moods.
However, if the fears come true, we lose satisfaction points and we will receive negative moods.
In fact, this system would be a good place to introduce a "special need": mental health. If our sim has low this need, an iconic character from The Sims visits: the therapist.
10. Memory system: A memory system could determine the way our sims act, along with what I call personality evolution.
For example, if a Sim accumulates sad memories, he will acquire the melancholic trait and act accordingly.
If a Sim accumulates bad memories, he will acquire the irascible / rebellious trait and will act accordingly.
If a Sim accumulates good memories, he will acquire the cheerful trait and act accordingly.
Of course, the "negative traits" can be remedied, balancing the balance by generating positive memories.
(In this section, the overhaul of emotions and their powers and the improvement of traits also come into play)
In short, I think The Sims 4 lacks more powerful traits and emotions, that its effects in a more realistic way.
In addition, having to deal with solving crises or phases of life, fulfilling goals, desires and avoiding fears, balancing memories to maintain mental health, forging relationships that cost more effort and ifentering and moving up in jobs was more complicated, would be the challenge that we need, that is, to approach life as it is! :D
This is my personal decalogue of how to deepen and make The Sims 4 more challenging, I hope I have helped you and again, thank you for giving us this opportunity and serving your community. Dag Dag!
So I would like if the job payments were less and if they would be weakly payments, so if I get my bills but it's not my pay day yet and I don't have the money to pay the bills I would need to find another way to get the money. This could be a lot challenge. So I would have to sell crafts, candles, paintings, knits, get a side job, gigs, or I could take a loan and wait for my pay day.
It would also add a challenge if we could send our kids to private school that we would have to pay for, and if we had annual taxes that we would need to pay for, and this taxes would vary depending on the neighborhood. This way life would be more expensive and my sims wouldn't get so rich so fast.
Job interviews and something similar to what the actor career offers, you need to get a skill and do an interview, it would be nice if your sim needs to get dressed a certain way for the job interview, formal clothes for the lawyer or business career, and casual clothes for style influencer. Dress wrong, don't get the job. And it would be cool if not all positions are available when looking for a job, so if your sim wants to be chef they need to check everyday if there's an opening, meanwhile the bills are coming and if you don't find the job you have to do crafts, have a garden or something else to pay the bills.
Discover university did a good job in making studding be hard and believable, I think that's how the careers show feel like. And the simple living challenge is my favorite because it offers so much realness to the game.
•Sim shopping
I think it would be great to be able to take your sim to the grocery store or local Farmers market for fresh grocerys or fun gifts. It will make for a more realistic shopping experience and the opportunity to run into friends enemy or a firty spouse..
•More events
Expecting a baby? Why not throw a baby show! Miss your family? Have a family reunion! Sad over the passing of a loved one? Set up a small funeral to send them on their way. Maybe give the option for parents to throw a sleepover for their kid or teenage sims. Also if a sim is attending a event they should interact accordingly and voluntarily. I can't make every sim stop and watch the bride and groom get married.
•Robberies should make a comeback
•Babysitters update
babysitters should actually babysit. I think my biggest pet peeve is hiring a babysitter who doesn't actually babysit.
•Family actions are reactions
Sims that are related should make more of a effort to hang out with family and do family oriented events together on their own. Even after moving out the house. Their relationships are different then friendships and their actions should reflect that. Example: coming over to each others houses for the holidays. (Christmas or thanksgiving with the family could even be a event option. ) spending the night over at their parents. Grandparents volunteering to watch the grandkids or even have them spend the night.
•Story progression
It would be great if sim households I'm not playing would continue on by themselves. Divorces, affairs, marriages and kids should happen just like deaths even if I'm not playing that particular family. Did the sim you want your sim to marry get engaged? Guess you're going to have to find away to stop the marriage. Did Mr. Pancakes get caught cheating? Guess that's why Bella Goth is looks so glowy lately. Life should continue on for every sim.
. Multi sim transportation maybe a trolley car or bus system that sims can take and interact on for work, school, running errands or just hanging out with friends .
GIVE SIMS MORE TIME TO KNOW EACH OTHER!!! Make it more random. Have sims building a relationship. I once left my husband at the altar and there was NO reaction to it... Have Sims saying no to marriage proposals, have sims home-wreck families (on purpose or accident). Have Sims say no to other Sims even though they are in love with them BECAUSE they are married. Just bring more depth to romance, make it more complex and messy, dramatic etc.
I also miss that I can send the parents on a random vacation so that the teens could throw parties. I miss being able to send kids and teens to boarding school. I want sims that REALLY struggle with money. Things such as inflations and crises. I want my sims to have crushes, one-sided love stories. I want shady townies back with actual background stories, relationships, secrets, crimes, etc. Keep the occult in their own world. Vampires in forgotten hollow, Witches in Glimmerbrook and the Magic Realm (also keep non-magic sims out of the magic realm PLEASEEEE), Aliens in Strangerville, Mermaids in Sulani, unless we make our occult sim and choose it to live elsewhere. I miss that my sim can buy real estate.
We also need improvements on personality traits. Please make it more challenging, and let Sims that are outside our household interact with it, clash with eachother.
In the end, it all comes down to story progression and gameplay. And not only in our own households but also of Townies, NPC's, neighborhoods, worlds, etc. Also just make the game more random, harder to play (especially economically wise and when it comes down to relationships). And last, make the reactions of sims more in-depth and unique depending on their relationship towards each other, likes and dislikes, memories, and HOW WELL THEY KNOW EACH OTHER. I'm sorry for my bad english but thank you.
2. I also think the fire spreads waaaaaaaay too slowly but maybe there should be lot challenge or something on this
3. In vampires pack there is aspiration task "Survive for an Additional 20 Days as a Vampire "
4. occult attacks = lot challenges
it has been a while since the vampires stopped attacking and aliens stopped abducting and evil witches never knocked on your door to begin with.... but it would be very nice to convert these things into lot challenges so people who like them could have them and people who never wanted them could ignore them and the two groups could live in harmony
5. speaking of which: toggle to turn off random townie generation. and possibility to set our own npc sims It would just be so nice for depth of the game if every sim could be someone you know
and also from the occult standpoint people should be able to delete/cure all vampires for example and not have game spawning more of them endlessly p_p it would solve many problems realism players have with occults and let occult players have their fun
6. sims romantic preferences
In short I believe there should be ways to make romance bit more challenging and/or completely impossible between 2 specific sims like for example if someone interested only in male sims was flirted on by female sim they wouldn't gain romance bar because they don't sync
7. Romance/couple interactions in general
it just feels this part of sim interactions is forgotten as a whole in the game as it is now and id like it to be so much more and so much deeper (slow dancing,snuggles, activities to do as a couple... just things that bring sims together)
8. burglars lot challenge. does it need explaining?
9. long term memories / being able to make sentiment permanent because as it is they fade too fast to really matter
10. better family trees that actually display everyone in the family dead or alive ... grandma being dead doesn't mean shes not grandma anymore you know
oh wait also +sims shouldn't constantly get super expensive rare collectibles for doing unrelated things cause it kind of defeats the purpose
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I'm one of the older generation and I play the Sims since 2001. I started with Sims 4 in 2004.
I do not want to list what has already been written, but I want to add a few more lines.
What I miss the most is a slow dance for our Sims and more romantic interactions, like earlier in Sims 2. Especially for my older couples I wish to have a slow dance, but of course for everyone else as well. People have been asking for a slow dance for almost seven years and we do not understand why this important part hasn't made a comeback yet into Sims 4. Sims 4 shouldn't just be CAS and party. In Sims 2 the little things has always been a reason for me to play for a long hours. It was so nice to watch my Sims slow dancing together at weddings or at home or even cuddling on the couch. Yes, they could also sit on eachothers lap and cuddle and even in bed. Couples could also hold hands while they slept. It's really the sweet little things that I miss so much. Also really reading in bed and chat in bed would be nice. And a real "Watch TV in Bed" function. What we have is not functional. It's just a pose with turn on TV animation, but they're not really watching. They don't care where the TV is at, they just stare straight ahead. - Thanks for reading.
Problem 1 – [b]Inconsequential and shallow illnesses[/b] (Get to Work). For example, my Sim got sick. I can definitely buy the all-powerful medicine that cures all the diseases and costs like a toilet paper, but it’s not necessary because my Sim will eventually get cured regardless. I strongly believe that there should be a deadly disease similar to Rabid Rodent Fever that Sims will have to treat at the clinic or by calling a doctor and having them come over. Doctors can prescribe a medicine, give a shot and charge for the visit afterwards. Plus, there should be different types of medicine depending on the sickness, with cost varying from cheap to expensive. It would add a bigger level of depth and realism to the illness system.
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To piggyback off this point, the careers in Get to Work, specifically the Doctor and Detective careers, lack depth because unless you play with a sim in one of those careers, the career might as well not exist.
Unless your sim is giving birth or is a doctor, Sims never go to the hospital lot. If our Sims get sick, they buy medicine, but we can’t go to the doctor. We can’t ask for a doctor to come to our lot to make a house call. Doctors won’t come to your lot if your Sim decides to have a home birth as a midwife might do in real life. The doctor career has no impact on a regular sim’s life.
It’s the same with the detective career. If your pet runs away, you can’t call the police. If a klepto sim steals something from you, an officer doesn’t show up. We never see them patrolling in the neighborhoods of different worlds. Unless you’re playing the career, the police in the game might as well not exist.
Even the scientist career, which admittedly is the one I enjoy the most, doesn’t affect much if your sim isn’t in the career. Even if I play as an alien, I never see scientists in my neighborhood or in any world looking for aliens. It literally has no impact on regular gameplay.
In Cats and Dogs, I can send my pets to the vet when the get sick, if I just want them to have a check up, or even if I just want to buy them the pet treats. I don’t have to be a vet for the vet to impact how I play the game. It’d be nice if the Get to Work careers would have had a similar impact.
I find it pretty disappointing that most careers and study courses are very superficial... These are usually so unrealistic that some of them are very reluctant to choose... What can you do?
1) There are no selectable careers for archaeologists, veterinarians or school teachers, although all the prerequisites for play are present. It shouldn't be difficult to implement.
2) The NPC careers should also be selectable. It should finally be an end to random assignments from NPC service Sims. These should then be selected from the existing Sims set as such.
3) There are no links between different packs. An NPC scientist from Strangerville is actually unemployed if he is then taken into the family. Then why doesn't he work as a scientist from Get To Work?
4) All NPC jobs should also be selectable for actively played Sims. Corresponding courses of study should also bring advantages for some of them.
5) Many univercity courses are superficial and not well thought out! You don't have to have studied psychology to become a university professor. It is also questionable for police officers. Why not start a new psychological career? The special teacher study course would also be recommended. Other courses of study are also conceivable (archeology, veterinary, chemistry, mathematics). Maybe also courses for butlers?
6) Many packs are ignored for promotions in many careers. The requirements are unrealistic or too simple. Fame, diploma or reputation are not taken into account.
7) It cannot be that one and the same nanny is used everywhere alone. How does she do it? Likewise butlers, gardeners and Co. They have to be tied to households or at least to the worlds or regions of the world. Otherwise is not realistic.
8) No random Sims should be used as magicians, aliens or vampires. It's frustrating. If a role is missing, a new SIM should be generated. Likewise for other NPCs.
9) It cannot be that all nannies have mastered all musical instruments at the perfect level. I don't think they should do that. A new NPC role is to be introduced for the care of children in music: music teacher who would only teach the children in music.
10) Why can't you hire the people you know in your own restaurant and shop? Maybe from your own household or friends? Why is there no connection to the sweet tooth career?
11) Why is there also no connection between the athlete career and NPC fitness coaches? In the end, all NPC are actually unemployed. Likewise, the NPC professors are not actually professors. NPC gardener and professional gardener career, apparate fitter and technology guru could also be combined...
12) Why can't you hire personal trainers, yoga teachers, stylists or private tutors for children in your own household (such as nannies or masseurs)?
13) More careers, even in old packs, would be very enriching for the game. All NPCs should be selectable. That would be fantastic.
It would also be great if you could enter careers and career levels directly in the CAS when creating new Sims. And also the skills so that the newly created Sims are not empty. Or as an alternative: You just choose the job (industry / level) and the necessary skills are assigned sensibly but at random.
14) The university courses are also said to be more expensive. You can get a scholarship for anything anyway. There is also hardly any need to take out loans.
- There’s a mod called “Wonderful Whims” that adds an Attraction System to The Sims 4. In the vanilla game there isn’t any attraction between sims. Everyone is okay with everyone. I have to force my Sim to be romantic with other Sims and I don’t like that. I think if my Sim tells me who they like or unlike would make things much easier when it comes to pick a partner for them. Also, the possibilities of liking another Sim are practically endless. It can be based upon traits, hair color, skills, eye color, preferences, etcetera. I just think it would be a great addition to the game.
- More & better Aspirations and the return of Achievements. I don’t know why you stopped adding new Achievements. There were a few in Cats & Dogs back then but I haven’t seen new ones. I loved completing them. I also think they can definitely replace the Aspirations system of The Sims 4. So the milestones in the Aspirations turn into Achievements. That way, the Aspirations are just one step long and your Sim doesn’t have to go through all of the process it involves. I’m talking about Aspirations like “Earn 3 Degrees”, “Marry 10 Sims”, “Reach level 10 of _ Career” and so. For example, the Mt. Komorebi Sightseer Aspiration can be summed up into “Complete all hiking trails and stay Emotionally Mindful for a whole week”. I just consider the Aspirations are like tutorials for new packs. They feel like they don’t mean nothing to our Sims. They can be changed at any time. So, what’s the point? It would be more challenging if the Aspiration sticks with the Sim since their YA and they work their whole life to complete it. For example, I just aged up my Teen Sim to a YA. The game suggests me three Aspirations to choose based on Skills or Traits but I can also choose a different one or just randomize it! I pick “Reach level 10 of the Astronaut career and WooHoo 8 different Sims while in a Rocket Ship”. Maybe my Sim completed their Aspiration before becoming Elder so the game suggests me a new one. Or an Achievement to make my Sim set their life goal one more time. So, let’s say, now I choose the Achievement to WooHoo with a ghost. My Elder Sim has a new challenging thing to do with their life. I would be so happy if you guys consider this idea. And I know many Simmers would be too.
- Replacing Whims for a more polished Wants System. Instead of things your Sim wishes to do right now, could be wants more meaningful ones like: become a Spellcaster, move out (if your Sim is YA or Adult and living with their parents), Adopt a Cat/Dog and Join _ Career. I have the idea of changing the UI for the whims. I don’t like how they are little clouds of thoughts above my Sim. It seems like they’re insignificant. And they’re not. Looking at past games for example, your Sim could have up to four Wants at a time and they were all meaningful to their lives. Maybe they could take a bigger space of the UI so there can be more of them. Or even adding a Fear System like in previous games. I think it would make such a big difference in gameplay because every Sim just seems to wish for the same things over and over. It can be a bit boring over time. However, a Wants System can differentiate Sims in a more in-depth way. So, for example, my Active Sim wants to go to the Gym or become Energized. Or my Lazy Sim wants to watch TV for 3 hours or watch 2 different movies. Or my Noncommittal Sim wants to quit their job or break up with their partner.
Those were just a few ideas I’ve been having for a while now. I think they can absolutely make the game more challenging and fun! And I know you guys would do an awesome job if you decide to put them in the game at some point.
Thanks for reading!
tl;dr: More traits, more trait slots, and using the likes/dislikes system to supplement traits and change a sim's daily life. This would make sims feel more unique and personalized.
Gameplay
(Assuming your sim reciprocated - Partners shouldn't assume a sim is cheating because someone flirted WITH THEM, and they have no option of declining flirts.)
tl;dr: Focus on unique creating unique experiences for sims, fleshing out systems already in place, and giving me back my boy, Torch,
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
I also want random chaos. Sims never die unless you purposely force it. Sims never get fired unless you force it. Sims never lose friends or create enemies unless you force it. I want more autonomy in the game and the consequences that come from it. I don’t want to be responsible and in control of every single thing that happens. I want random chaos as well.
For me those are the two biggest things missing in Sims 4. Solid consequences. And random chaos.
Thanks for taking the time to listening to what the community has to say. Scanning through these comments must be a lot of work so I tried to keep it short, but there is so much to think of! For me the Sims 4 gameplay is not challenging at all. Everything is too easy, there are hardely any consequences and therefore the gameplay is just quickly becoming repetitive and boring. When I play I tend to build most of the time because live-mode always feels like I end up doing the same thing over and over. So to improve this I suggest the following things:
- Money comes too easy:
A job, painting, writing, gardening, collecting, etc. all can get you so much money in so little time (and the only thing you spend it on is new stuff and some bills). Make it harder to get money fast. For example: it's great to get some money from selling your paintings, but making expert paintings within a week and selling them for hundreds of dollars per piece is not realistic. It should be a side job untill you've progressed enough to actually make a living out of it. Limit the amount of paintings you can sell in a certain period of time or lower the prices they receive for them. Make it more difficult to sell the stuff you've made, make them go to a store or gallery to sell the stuf they've made or collected.
- Make more stuff cost money than just building and the bills:
Just make stuf cost money when they are done by your Sim: like traveling, groceries, buying books to read, internet&tv, insurance for replacing furniture in case of a fire, tickets to attend a festival, have all items slowly detoriate over time so they need to be replaced from time to time. And make sure it is clear what is costing money in the bills overview and what things can your Sim save on when they are on a budget.
- Building a house and buying land is way too cheap.
Landprices are unrealisticly low. To overcome the inital costs of buying a house and land you could work with a mortage system that your Sim can pay off slowly over time. And you could even make it mandatory that you need a certain level of income from your job before you can get a mortage for each amount. Building a house should cost way more, usually the furniture that is placed inside it costs more than the house itself. And why on earth are roofs free? :)
- Relationships are too easy:
If my Sim can marry any random Sim I encounter within a day, what are the stakes? I can call up any Sim at every time of the day and they'll come over. Putting back the turn-on and turn-offs would help (and actually make them have an effect: if my Sims is repulsed by Sims with green hair, that should mean that they refuse to start a romantic relationship with a person that has green hair right?). Have sims gain relationships faster if they are compatible (in age, job, interests, likes/dislikes, hobby's) or slower if they have traits that aren't. Have the romance bar progress much slower or limit the amount of romantic interactions that can be used in a day. Or enforce some time of 'engaged' period before the 'marry' option even becomes available.
- Entry requirements for jobs:
Why can my Sim have any job he wants by just giving that company a call? (Whish it would work like that in real life!) Put in some requirements like skill level, certain traits, education or previous experience in and have a job interview that has a chance of landing the job if you have certain aspects. And if you fail the interview: put in a cooldown of a couple of days before you can try again.
- Traits actually need to have an effect on your Sim's live:
Now they usually only trigger a small interaction or small restriction which is easily overcome. For real challenging gameplay: make more negative traits that make the game harder. Some examples: make your Sim less intelligent which makes them read slower and gain logic skill slower, have them be akward in relationships which will have negative impact on making friends, let them be impulsive spenders so that they spend more than necessary, let them be stinky so people don't want to be around them for a long time. Best of all: make some things acutally unavailable to Sims with certain traits. Are they not artistic? No writing or painting. Clumsy?Cannot ever learn a handiness skill. Lazy: will not ever gain any fitness points. Or only have them top out at level 5 so they will never excell at it.
- Every Sim is equally good at every skill:
My Sim can easily become a bestseling Author, and so can my neighbour Sim and the next one that I make. This feels bland and boring. Not everyone is good at the same things. Make the Sims gain skills slower or faster based on their traits, education or even childhood experiences.
- Random negative or difficult events:
Nothing really bad happens in the Sims unless you initate it yourself. The lot challenges are a good step in that direction with things breaking and becoming filthy. But more random difficulties for your Sims can be put in without it being an actuall lot-related thing. Thes diffuculties cannot be fixed, your Sim just has to deal with it. For example: an annoying boss that makes you work unpaid overtime, a neighbour that keeps playing loud music (like in city living but also in neighbourhoods), teens that kick your garbagecan or vandilize your yard, being forced to move because of your job (or losing the job if you don't move), burglars that steal stuff, etc.
- Lasting consequenses of your Sims actions in the game.
Is your Sim being a bully at the park? Then they can get banned from visiting. Did they break up with their fiance at the altar? Bad reputation and cannot easily find a new partner to marry. Got zapped when fixing your computer, now your Sim is fearfull of electronics and doesn't want to repair it anymore. Got fired or quit a job: cannot restart that carreer anymore because they don't want your Sim back. etc.
I understand that not all players might want these things to be always in their game. So you could make some of them optional or have players select the difficulty level while playing. E.g. easy, moderate and hard. And for each of the aspects you could make it more difficult to gain money, make things more expensive, higher entry level requirements for jobs, traits have a more severe impact on how quickly you gain skills, etc.
Good luck with all the suggestions!