easier deaths for those who want it
more events like illness or burglar
one of my favorite things is surprise twist to my sims life
so more of that please also please add more whims I think they add
a lot to the game and more drama please sims being happy all the time is no fun
and please make the negative emotions stack like the positive ones
please have sims get invites more
Hello Sims Team and thank you for giving us this platform. I feel like for me where the game lacks depth is within the interactions between sims. I will try my best to explain. The lack of being able to do things together with sims is frustrating. They CAN do things together but it feels more like it's 2 sims doing the same thing at the same time. For instance, 2 sims can dance together but actually it's just 2 sims dancing next to one another separately. Sims can fish together, but in actuality they are just standing next to each other and they're both fishing. The sims need to talk to each other, be with each other, and have a real connection. How sims interact now is just hollow. A loving couple with a family and a strong marriage react the same way as a college couple that hooked up for the semester. Best friends since birth react the same way as a random person that you stopped walking down the street. You take a few pictures with them and now you can't tell the two relationships apart. There will always be a certain level of imagination when playing the sims that's required but for this iteration I rely HEAVILY on my imagination. I have so many mods in my game just to make my sims more affectionate to one another and more meaningful. What I would like to see change is that sims interacting with each other will actually be reflected in a more realistic and meaningful way. A bride and groom can dance together at their wedding, a mom or dad can hold their toddlers hand, friends can run around together playing tag, friends can dance together and you can tell they are all there together and not solo strangers all dancing to the same music, and if they are fishing with someone, there's some interaction to reflect that. Show off the fish, trash talk, teach your kids how to fish by helping them, just something that shows the 2 (or more) sims are actually interacting with each other. That's the depth that's missing for me.
Hi, definitely not a long time player like some folks here but I have been playing since 2015 so I have been here awhile. I think the thing I'd most like to see and others here have probably touched upon is an expansion to the social system, I definitely like the return of the likes/dislikes system having been a long term sims 3 player but I would like it to have more of an effect on game play like a sim who hates painting not getting along with a professional painter or sims with conflicting traits being more likely to have negative interactions.
Before starting, I am not a English speaker, so my English could be a little awkward or weird. Thanks for your understanding in advance. :)
Recently, I’ve been playing the latest expansion pack, Cottage Living. It is really fun and enjoying. But as you already know, depending on each user's preference, it could affect wether to buy or not. So, I have some idea that you can play richer if you basic update 3 things.
First, Different feelings for emotions. I'm satisfied with the profile system updated before. However, if system about feelings like Secret Crush(or Unrequited Love, One-sided Love / I don’t know what is called :D) is updated, it would be more interesting Sims play.
Second, It was an issue from the last forum, but I'm waiting for an update on the NPC story. Bring life to the village I live in.
Last, School Interaction of Children / Youth Sims. In reality or in games, we go to school for a very long time. However, the interaction with the moodlet users can see is too little and tedious. vert little. Even in recent reality, we can't go to school due to Covid19, but I hope Sims have a more fun school life.
I’m really looking forward for you to see my small idea.
Hi Sims Team! Thank you for all the hard work you do. I’ve been playing The Sims since I was 5 in the year 2000!
Here are my suggestions for improving/implementing more difficulty in the base game:
1) Fix relationships. Make it harder to be friends with other sims. One of the things I loved so much about TS1 was getting level 8, 9, or 10 in a career because you needed so many family friends. Like 10-15! It was hard making friends and keeping friends in that game. Now in TS4 I literally will be bff’s with any sim the first night meeting them… Also implement an attraction system that can be one sided where looks and characteristics actually matter and will influence how likely flirty interactions will go over.
2) Add more danger. More fires, BURGLARS, wildlife *racoon, skunk, gopher and Claire the Bear from TS1. All of these TS1 NPC’s added a wild twist to the game that was annoying but it added some challenge to the game.
3) Revamp Aspirations or add lifetime wishes. Make aspirations take most of a sims life to achieve that can be optional. In TS2, sometimes I would ignore a lifetime want and that was fine with me but having an “endgame” goal really helped me stick with a family for an entire lifetime and not a life stage or two before creating a new family.
I want to thank you so much for taking the time to read this. The Sims is a game I deeply love. It’s my favorite video game ever. I look forward to a future with a lot of improvements and a lot more quality content. <3 <3
If two sims are getting married it should be a process if they're not helping meaning it should take a week or two to plan the wedding. There should be steps example: wedding dress shopping, cake eating/picking, florist and catering interviews, engagement shoot, rehearsal event and dinner all before saying I do. This would help make it feel more real. Also guest should interact accordingly while attending the wedding or if part of the wedding party. I shouldnt have to make guest pay attention or the wedding party line up they should do that themselves. Also adding a honeymoon option would be nice as well.
Suggestion: Memory Bank?
When sims reach a milestone or share a special experience, a "memory" is triggered, and the player has the option to add it to the sims Memory Bank.
There could be a limit to memories, like there are for Likes/Dislikes - to really ensure their importance.
Examples of what could be important memories.
There should be hundreds for players to choose! (big project, I know )
Then it's important for a sim to be able to RECALL this memory and even share it with others to have an impact on their here and now.
A Remember interaction a player can use when they feel like it:
This will help make their sim's existence and life experiences matter.
If two sims are getting married it should be a process if they're not eloping meaning it should take a week or two to plan the wedding. There should be steps example: wedding dress shopping, cake eating/picking, florist and catering interviews, engagement shoot, rehearsal event and dinner all before saying I do. This would help make it feel more real. Also guest should interact accordingly while attending the wedding or if part of the wedding party. I shouldnt have to make guest pay attention or the wedding party line up they should do that themselves. Also adding a honeymoon option would be nice as well.
Overall, Sims 4 is a great game and one which I have spent more time playing than any other game, and I've been playing Sims since 2000. Before that, I was a SimCity player. After 21 years, Sims is still pretty much occupying an entire genre and I realise one game cannot satisfy everyone. There are some areas I would love to see improved including...
1. Toddlers. Specifically the check toddler interaction. I play with single parents often and try to avoid having teens and toddlers under the same roof for this reason. It interferes with the gamplay and often feels like the game does not trust the player. Worse, it often interferes with caring of the toddler. Example, reading a toddler to sleep and instead of dozing off, the toddler is getting out of bed to go stand in the middle of the room as the game has automously wiped out the toddler's bedtime story with a check toddler.
2. Traits. A lot of improvement has been made here. Maybe a separate section for dietry requirements though? Doesn't feel like vegetarian or lactose intolerant belong beside creative or dance machine. Would love to see the star signs return too.
3. I would love it if our Sims could own more than one piece of property. It is after all, insinuated that the Landgraabs own several, why not have the option to purchase one of the San Myshuno or Evergreen Harbor apartments at least, collect the rent and be responsible for the maintainence and taxes.
4. More teen activities as well as clothing. I understand why teens need to be the same height as adults due to animation limitations. But can we please have some teen specific activities such proms and clothing which is more specifically for teens, especially in the formal wear.
But again, Sims 4 has occupied more of my time than any other game and it's fair to say it is my favourite game. The graphics still look great after 7 years, love the speech and expressions. Toddlers themselves are the best in 4 by far as well as children.
Hello, and thank you for this opportunity. First, let me say that I am a strong supporter of having toggles for players who want to opt out of increased challenges. Somedays, I just don't want any drama. lol
Let us know what a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game would look like for you.
CHALLENGE
My sims have very little adversity, and when it does occur, it is easily fixed with 2 or 3 clicks. Some things that could bring challenges are:
Random job setbacks or firings. Maybe the company downsized or closed.
Random storm damage to houses and lots. Maybe lightning hit a transformer and now my sims have no power for ? amount of time.
Random events to commercial lots. Maybe the library is closed due to a fire. Maybe the bar is closed for failing a safety inspection.
Uneven relationships. Maybe my sim loves someone who only likes her, or dislikes her.
Random events. Maybe my sim has to pay a fine because she went streaking.
I like the lot challenges, but I don't want every challenge to utilize this system. Life has adversity. The sims, not so much.
DEPTH
Skills, talents, and weaknesses. Maybe my clumsy sim will never get to level 10 fitness, or to level 3 for that matter.
Meaningful traits. Maybe my jealous sims will be jealous again. And why can't my sim develop new quirks as they age?
Meaningful likes and dislikes. If my sim dislikes video games, why does she play them non-stop?
What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?
Romantic relationships. This is an incredibly boring aspect of the game. There is no depth or meaning to this at all. My sim can meet a new sim and have woo hoo with them the same day. With no mods. My sim can meet a married sim, and have woo hoo with them the same day. Again, with no mods. Where is the courtship? Where is the hand holding and slow dancing? Where are the meaningful conversations? Where are the special outings? Where are the serenades? Where are the engagements? Where are the anniversary parties? Where are the vow renewals? Why does this game treat love and romance like it is not a valued or valuable experience?
As a side note, I realize that the request was for base game. However, I feel it would be great if you could un-nerf all the stuff that has been nerfed. The game was more challenging before things were nerfed. I don't always want to fight off vampires, but now, I don't even get to try, even though I paid for it. Please consider adding a toggle for vampires and aliens so they don't show up unless you want them to, and then please set them free. Thank you for your time.
Wants and fears would be great with consiquences when fears happen. Essentially, it would be good to have more impact on how sims live not just through change of emotions (that needs an overhaul on its own) but really in the game play. Ex: I made my sim do something they dislikes, you should see in the face of the sim and the way they act (not in UI) that they are 🐸🐸🐸🐸. Something like that. It needs to be more than the UI. Since the UI feels detatch from the sim if we cannot see it actualizing in the game play.
Relationships as well - ex: If my sim and another sim do not like each other and that sim walked into the room with my sim, a thought bubble would be nice to show dislike for that sim or maybe randomly 🐸🐸🐸🐸 off the other sim or make it harder to interact with them. Perhaps show frowning when talking. And vise versa. If i like a sim strongly, i wanna see a positive shift to the mood and have a thought bubble with positive on it. To kind of show impact.
We just need to see more impact on what wr make sims do beyond the emotions in the UI.
Relationships need to be revamped. I can meet a sim and in the span of a day, I'm their best friend and their spouse. It's ridiculous. Even playing the game normally it feels like the relationship bar raises too quickly just after a few interactions. Romance is more than just being flitty and woohoo. We have people that are only interested in romance and not sex, people who enjoy sex but have no desire to be in a romantic relationship, people who are interested in neither, and those who may only partake in romantic or sexual relationships with people they have a strong emotional bond with.
We need more depth, allow our sims to be introverted or extroverted which would affect whether the sim even agrees to have a conversation with a random townie, have preferences when looking for a romantic partner, make traits have an impact on social interactions so sims clash and don't get along if their personalities are too different. Have our friendships and romantic relationships mean something other than a way to feel a need.
And maybe implement preferences for when a sim initiates or accepts romance interactions. The closest thing we have to that is the Unflirty trait and I hate it because it assumes that everyone not interested in romance is romance and sex repulsed. Not every person on the asexual or aromantic spectrums are sex or romance repulsed! Have it be so we can set conditions that need to be met for a sim to flirt or accept flirts from others, like some might be able to right out of the gate, others require a certain friendship level and some might always refuse regardless. Give us things to make our sims seem more like individuals and less like blank-slate puppets.
Traits are almost meaningless. Sims don't have a personality, they have a series of buffs or debuffs depending on the trait. You can have a lazy sim exercise at the same rate an athletic sim would. Evil and Good sims can still be friends, no one butts heads or gets into fights or arguments unless the player forces the confrontation. It doesn't feel natural. I want to be able to have a sim earn their relationships, I want them to not get along with other sims not because I forcefully made them be mean, but because they simply don't have traits that match up with the other sim's.
I want a sim to be good at some things and bad at others, I want nuance, depth, challenge. The most fun parts of the game are when I'm scraping together money to pay the bills, dealing with stuff breaking once a week, and juggling my sims needs.
Much of what I see here is pulling from older games and I completely agree with what these people are saying, bring back turn on/offs, wants and fears, things that add on to the game to flesh it out.
1. I would like to know why packs are not interwoven together better as they are created. They truly are individual game packs with little relation to one another, instead of add ons to a game as a whole. I do not mean that they should be dependant upon one another, but that if you have multiple packs they all maybe complement one another. For example, like being able to have honey be sold in henford on bagley, or the player could craft salves and/or repellants for outdoor retreat, snowy escape, or jungle adventures bug problems, in lieu of buying repellant, or likewise repellant could be purchased instead of crafting it, once you bought Snowy Escape or Jungle Adventure. It all dependant upon what packs you have purchased.
2. Will items traditionally baked in an oven, ever be slotted into the bake in oven catagory? I've played this game since launch and still always look for cakes under the bake option first.
3. Something I would love to see happen is a 'fertilize all' option for gardening. Those with hand and wrist problems, or low patience struggle with big gardens.
4. Will any of the "playdough" or "molded looking" hairs be reworked, as you have done with previous hairs?
5. Is it possible to get the live menu catagories cleaned up and tagged better? It's often hard to find options, it's very cluttered. (i.e.Write should include write jokes, routines and things like that. Jokes should have tell jokes, perform routine, or something.)
6. Lastly, I am also curious how so many bugs slip through the quality control so frequently? Like the bust the dust at launch. We use hard earned money to buy broken products, and it isn't fair to the fan base. But despite this, I still love you.
Thank you.
P.S. Please bring Jasmine Holiday events to the calendar. It's plausible now since everyone has a calendar!
Health: I think being able to add more traits in CAS would allow for more complex sims and some of those traits could be health issues, like allergies, chronic migraines, asthma, etc. These things add challenges to completing certain goals or doing certain tasks. I also like menstrual cycles being added gameplay. It makes it more challenging to try to have a baby and adds challenge to completing tasks when menstruating because of symptoms.
Note: If sims have a dietary trait it would be good if they would avoid eating things that are contrary to this dietary restriction. Vegetarian sims should avoid meat, not eat it autonomously and get a buff after (which is what they were doing). Not sure if this has been addressed already since I stopped making vegetarian sims and instead manage what sims eat.
Personality Part 1, Likes and Dislikes: I prefer more complex sims. Likes and dislikes are nice but I would prefer if they impacted gameplay more. Such as when sims have free will turned on they could refuse to do some things at times because they dislike them and they could autonomously start doing things they do like. Currently sims will sit and listen to music they don't like, they get a buff but make no attempt to turn the music off or leave the room. They have no reaction at all to favorite colors that I've seen. So the impact is negligible. The likes and dislikes are a perfect entryway to an attraction system. I currently use a mod to add this system and it makes it more challenging as well as rewarding for my sims to have romantic relationships. It would be nice to have it in game.
Personality Part 2, Traits: I loved the trait improvements that have been made. Though the toilet pranking got to be very annoying so I turned it off with a mod. Since it's more of a personal preference to have toilets not be pranked I think it's fine to continue using a mod to turn it off rather that remove it from the game. But going back to trait improvements in general, I would like more trait options so that sims can be more complex. This would make the experience of playing different sims unique. I find that without the modded traits I add to my game, my sims feel rather similar. With a modded trait I created a sim who has ADHD and it was a challenge to get him to finish homework as a child. The solution I found for this was to have him work in a distraction free room and have a parent help him with his homework. It was hard but also rewarding. I made it a routine for his family members do homework or skill activities while he did his homework.
Personality Part 3, Aspirations and Whims: I'm a whim and aspiration based player. Usually I focus more so on completing whims. I won't have my sims get engaged unless they have a whim for it, same for marriage and babies. I even do it for careers to an extent. We have many careers that have no aspirations and we have many expansions that add no whims. It would be great to have more whims and more aspirations. Trying to complete the aspirations and whims along with fulfilling daily needs and maintaining relationships creates a nice level of challenge. Having whims that are based on aspirations would be great.
Personality Part 4, Fear: I actually would prefer fear was something that grew or diminished over time. I find people become less afraid of things with positive experience and more afraid with negative experience. I think fear should be effected by the sims level of knowledge and types of experiences. I wish fear was scale rather than a boolean (terror on/off). I also wish we could specify or randomize what our sims are afraid of. I was terrified of bunnies and butterflies as a kid but loved skeletons and rain. It would be an added challenge to deal with sims that have different fears. You could work towards helping them face their fears. I have always been afraid of heights but I worked on it since childhood so my fear is gone for most mid height things and manageable for very high things like flying.
Personality Part 5, Socialization: I would like sims to autonomously choose social options that let them learn more about others. I would like the autonomy to factor in their personality/mood to determine the types of things the sims say. This leads to more interesting conversations where the sims are doing the driving but I can intervene if I wish. What I like about this is it leads to some sims not getting along at all and some getting along very well. Sims with similar likes (writing, movies) could become friends while discussing these likes. Sims with very different interests may become bored. If they dislike something the other sim likes they could become annoyed when the other sim keeps bringing it up. Currently it's pretty easy to be friends with everyone (without mods) outside of mean sims. I would like making friends and dating to be more of a challenge because the sims may not get along.
Also if a sim chooses a love aspiration there show be more categories.. Example: serial romantic, soulmate, marriage that last, player, forever single
Also sims should get to pick the number of kids the eventually want and get upset if accidentally get pregnant again. Example : options for 1child, 2 children , 3 children, 4+ Children
Sul Sul! I have been playing The Sims for YEARS! So much that even my mom played for a bit. But to focus on this topic of adding some more depth & challenges I have a few ideas that could make the game more enjoyable for everyone.
1. Loan Payments! As it was introduced in the University pack, sims going to college who did not have enough money were allowed to take out loans & have an interest put on them as well. I believe that option would be great to do for the sims moving into a house that they cannot afford as well. They can be Mortgage payments and every time the bills come they have to pay a percentage off just like with the Lot Taxes. Along with this, making them go into debt & not only having their Utilities cut off but also a friendly visit from the Repo Man. And once these things begin to happen to them they they have an emotion of shame & embarrassment of the repo man and not having money along with some stress as well. They may ask fo borrow from a close friend or from the bank but they must pay them back or are sent to a new home which is within their income. 2. Job Opportunities! With Get To Work a lot could have been added but hey it’s never too late for The Sims! - For the politician career, they should have to go to the local park or gathering area and campaign their stances of what’s going on in their local communities. They will have to interact with all types of sims to gain their vote. But also have to deal with campaign Rivals and protest against them. Just like in Eco Living where they is voting for the community, there should be votes for who wins to become mayor or World president. Then whoever wins gets almost automatic fame and has a limo & papperazti wherever they go. If they lose they do not get promoted and get shame & embarrassment for 2Days. - For the criminal career, they should be getting arrested when on & off the clock. Add embarrassment & shock to them & their household. The parents should have the emotions of embarrassment when their child is caught. Or if they have any bad traits they feel proud when their child follows the family business. - For the medical career, the sims should have sicknesses that require them to go to the doctors & get medical bills. Or have them be able to call the doctors & get a home visit. But still resulting in getting a bill just like a regular service. 3. Adding More Mischief! Adding the burglars back that come unexpectedly will definitely add the depth, excitement, and challenge into the game that a lot of simmers miss. Having the cops round up the teen sims for sneaking out & breaking curfew. Adding more unexpected opportunities & mischief. Allowing for teen parties to be thrown with the consequences of getting caught by nosy neighbors or by parents coming home unexpectedly. 4. More Responsibilities. Having the option of giving the sim children a chores list for them to do. 5. Being able to change some traits as sims get older. 6. More Cultural hairstyles 7. Midlife crisis!!
Let us know what a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game would look like for you. For me, your question is a two-parter. Challenge could be separate from depth (think aspirations), although depth done right can create plenty of challenge.
Independent Challenges: What would you expect from it?
Something that isn't easily overcome through average or even indifferent gameplay. I expect challenge to be something that I can't practically ignore and yet still accomplish. If I want my sim to get promoted to the top level of their career, all I have to do to accomplish that is make sure they have the required skills. Their mood takes care of itself, as it's more difficult for a sim to make it all the way to work in a bad mood than a good one or a fine one. (Try making angry/sad paintings without the aspiration trait.)
Existing challenges in the Sims 4 are things like the writer aspiration. It's a series of tasks that take several weeks in game, and I can't usually finish them in one gaming session (unless I'm playing for 12 hours that day and only playing the one sim).
How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?
It would make it more fun to play as there would be a sense of accomplishment in completing challenges.
Sim Depth: What would you expect from it?
Sims to feel more like characters and less like dolls. I want sims that do their own thing according to the personalities I give them, things that have happened, and skills they've learned. I give a sim autonomy because I want them to react and/or do things they want to do. Whims might have given me the ability to do those things for them, if the whims actually aligned with my sims' personalities/wants/goals. Sims who live in an apartment and have no outdoor or plant-related wants / likes / personality traits don't actually want a bee box. And yet, every spring I'm cancelling that whim repeatedly for ALL my sims.
In terms of personality depth, I expect it to give sims back their uniqueness. If a sim is childish, him pulling out a future cube, sitting down on the floor and playing with it makes total sense. If a grown adult isn't childish or playful, they aren't going to do that. I want my sim to act like their traits suggest. Playful sims pranking toilets is a perfect example. This added depth to the gameplay for me. It was a little broken, since he pranked his own, but it was a definite step in the right direction. Perfectionist sims who restart paintings that aren't excellent or better would be great (if it was implemented to leave the excellent and better ones). These types of things are wonderful and exactly what I'm looking for.
Sims need independent relationship bars as an option. Make it a menu option so people can keep relationships on easy mode, but the fact that every single sim can make every other sim fall in love with them, leave their spouse if they have one, move in with and marry you within a day or two is laughable. Further challenge would be to add sexuality preferences. Things like gender (with options for one, both, or none), age, relationship status, and interest compatibility should be a factor.
How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?
Hopefully, I could become more attached to my sims again.
What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?
I want my sims to have personalities and uniqueness. All those things under the simology panel should affect them. Since we're talking base game, I'll stick to traits and age.
Inanimate Challenge and Depth:
I want gardening to be affected no matter where I am in the world. If I am playing a household that has a garden and I'm away from home at 6:00AM, there are no consequences for the entire day's passing (good or bad). If I go on vacation, I don't have to hire a gardener or ask a friend to water my plants. I just have to not be there and nothing happens. None of my plants will die or wither away or anything. I can spend a year on vacation, and nothing happens to my huge garden back home.
I think over the years, furniture / floor tiles / items should start to have more than a value decay. I would like it if my sims had to repair/replace their objects after they reach a certain value level or age. Like if the item is down to 10% or less of its original value, it wouldn't be able to be used and/or would be unsightly (negative environment value) unless repaired or replaced. Paintings could be sent off to a refinisher or your sim could do it themselves, etc. You could call a professional refurbisher to the house to appraise what needs fixing and how long things will last and they could do it all in a day or two for a certain sum or give you a break down that you could use to choose what you want to fix now or let rot, etc. It would be really cool if this could be tied into whether the item was stored inside or outside, making it decay faster if it was stored outside.
It's going to be really hard to not turn this in to a wish list, but I'll give it a shot.
From a base game update that increased DIFFICULTY, I would expect: -A rebalancing of the value of collectibles/farmables/gatherables As it stands, I play a lot of Runaway Teen/Homeless Sim challenges in the interest of increasing the difficulty of the game, but honestly between going through the various frog, mineral, etc. spawns, what should be a hobby winds up being as or more profitable than a full time job. The same is true of gardening; if you can find a dragonfruit randomly while fishing or through a seed pack, a patch of 4 plants will bankroll your Sims forever. (This isn't base game, but as another example, dumpster diving from Eco Lifestyle is incredibly lucrative for what it is. Who throws away a fridge?)
From the update, I would expect a re-evaluation of the value of farmable goods (dragonfruit are expensive at the grocery store, but not *that* expensive!), and perhaps of the rarity of certain other collectible items. Also, some sort of option to remove the ability to sell from inventory; if I have to go to a marketplace to sell the thing instead of alchemically transmuting it in to simoleons, that'd be equally valuable.
With a reduction in the value of these goods (or increasing the difficulty to obtain them), I would probably play fewer gardeners/collection geeks as my starting Sims.
-Some events that break the status quo Once you have something in The Sims 4, you pretty much have it forever. Plants live forever if you put a bit of effort in to them, if you're doing a legacy challenge (or similar) the base footprint of your house can be completely set by the end of the first generation, and even great great grandpa's microwave will still be working in the tenth generation.
In an update, while doing my best to avoid turning this in to a wish list, I would expect the addition of burglars, natural disasters, more dangerous fires, or some other catastrophe(s) that can result in a loss of property (or life!), most likely as a lot challenge.
With less stability, I would probably focus less on just saving up money for the best X, where X is whatever appliance I'm presently lacking, because I would understand that it might not be with me forever!
-A change in earning and spending money As it stands, if you decide to get a job in The Sims 4, you're now set for life. I can't think of a job that doesn't earn enough simoleons to pay the bills for an entire household, and once you have that job, it actually seems to take a little effort to be demoted, much less fired. And when you're first moving in to a house, there isn't a mortgage or home loan to consider, you just *have* the money for the house and a little left over.
From this update, I would expect an option to "start in the negative", under a mortgage with the threat of the Repo-Man if you miss payments, or even a game over if you default (I avoided the wish list item of being able to play as a homeless Sim!). In addition, I would also expect some more realistic bill items (not just increased bills!) like that fire insurance that all Sims seem to have.
Having the specter of debt and threat of eviction over my Sims' head would mean that the cheaper, obviously "wrong" choices for appliances and furniture options would now be necessary sacrifices; shower in that Uncomfortable bathtub for now, but at least I can make my loan payments this week!
What specific aspects of the game do I want more depth in: -Sim Customization I'm not talking hairs and clothing here, I mean like handedness, more likes and dislikes for things like meals (the current system is fine as a baseline, but it's weird that there aren't any apparent interaction between Traits and Likes/Dislikes, for example I can have a Lazy sim that likes Fitness), the old Zodiac Signs, etc.
-Relationships I think what I mostly mean here is that my Sim can notice, pitch woo at, and marry another Sim within a few hours. This is kind of legacy behavior, if my previous experience from The Sims 3 is to be believed, but it's a little cut-and-dry. Compatibility checking, gender preference, unrequited romance or friendship, things of that nature.
-Shopping/Building The Simple Living lot challenge is a good example of what I mean here; that, but for *everything*. Have to wait to get your new fridge shipped, hire a contractor to add that new bathroom on the second floor, etc. Basically delaying the instant gratification.
I guess that did get a little wish-listy at the end, sorry
> @EA_Lanna said: > Sul sul Simmers! > > What’s on your mind for the next Sims 411? > > We heard you say that you want a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game. And we’d love to hear more about it! > > Let us know what a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game would look like for you.* What would you expect from it? > * How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4? > * What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in? > > > Today, on August 19th starting at 6 AM Pacific Time, we’ll be welcoming your comments during 24 hours in The Sims Forums (check here for local timezones). We’ll close the conversation after 24 hours, on August 20th at 6 AM Pacific Time. > > You’ll be able to share any additional comments next time (our team is made of humans, and there are only so many comments one human can read at a time... :) ). > > We appreciate you understand that* this is not a wish list for content requests > but a place where we can listen to your thoughts without distraction > * this is not a guarantee we’ll provide an answer in the next Sims 411 > but rest assured that your comment is being read and will be addressed whenever possible > * this is not a place to report bugs > but please continue to report bugs on AHQ > > > THE GOLDEN RULE > We’ll only read comments that adhere to our Positive Play guidelines and our forum rules. > > GUIDELINES AND RULES > > We’ll only read comments that adhere to our Positive Play guidelines and our forum rules - here are some of the most important points when it comes to giving feedback:* Be respectful. We want to hear what you have to say but please be kind and respectful when posting here. Being mean or aggressive as well as cursing and swearing doesn't help to bring your point across. > * Keep it game-related and on topic. As we said before, this is not the place to post a wish list and bugs, or talk about those Sims 4 mods that you found. > * Don't make things personal. It's not cool to target other players who may have different opinions or attack SimGurus and other officials. This also means: please no mass taggings. > * Don't bully, troll, bait, or derail the conversation. This is never okay - which should go without saying! If you do this, you will be moderated as per our forum rules. > * Don't spam or flood this thread. Posting the same thing over and over will not get your question into the Sims 411 but it may lead to moderation. > > > We’re looking forward to reading your comments! :)
It would be nice if you fixed sims expressions, they seem forced and unnatural like in previous sims titles! We would love if you gave them more human expressions!
Nothing major, I'm just hoping that NPCs don't randomly join chats... it's really awkward during a date... Loving all the suggestions given by the community. Thank you for giving us the platform to voice out our opinions & make the game better <3
Caco (pronounced as 'cha-cho') | she/her | a cat lady that loves onions
Hello, Sims Team! I heard about this forum and hastily ran to create a username. Here is what I've been thinking:
DEPTH
-Permanence I know that sims' lives are short, but I feel like things disappear too quickly from their 'story' It's not new for people to want a more in-depth memory system similar to past games. I think the sentiments were a step in the right direction, but people who want depth are storytellers and there's something great about remising about events in a sim's life.
-Simstagram To piggyback off of the last point, I think that the simstagram feature is extremely underused. It could be a very useful and seamless way to bring memories into 2021. You could use your sims' cameras (or cellphones) to take pics whenever you want and add a little caption, then let townies 'react' to posts with likes, dislikes, or emojis based on their relationship? You could even start drama if a sim is in a secret relationship and the sim they are seeing on the side reacts to a post with a heart or kiss emoji and their partner finds out. There is so much you can do with social media in the sims. It would also be a good way to better integrate the notification system.
-Sentimental emotion I think that adding specifically a 'sentimental' emotion or series of moodlets with unique animations like wiping eyes while smiling or tenderly putting their hand on their hearts would be a great addition. It would be a special case, though. I can see attaching an imprint of some kind on certain items like handmade objects or photos, but I think you could also have a shelf or display that your sims can place items on and you can manually attach a sentiment to the item for that sim or select a few sims for the sentiment. For instance, I have my grandfather's carvings and every once in a while, I'll ok on the special shelf they're at and be reminded of him, but other people would just see a carving.
-Emotions Emotions need to be more noticeably gradated when switching from one to another. Especially when there is a big life event. I thing that allowing sims to have mixed emotions sets the stage for great gameplay and makes them feel more human. If you had a sim who lost a parent, maybe they can be getting ready in the morning after while still sad and after brushing their teeth, when they would normally be confident, they take a breath and the emotion section SLOWLY fills with the confident color. Rather than flipping a card from one to another, that section of the screen would slowly fill with different colors as a sim's mood changed. It's a bit hard to describe my idea, but I hope it makes sense.
DIFFICULTY
-Levels I think that the best way to make the game accessible to more playstyles is to have some advanced gameplay options and difficulty levels. I really enjoy the lot challenges, and I think that was a great move, but for the gameplay as a whole, I think giving the player more control on certain things would help with the challenge. I think that having a preset 'Extreme' mode where sims are more likely to get abducted or bitten by a vampire, or struck by lighting, etc. could be a lot of chaotic fun. I also think that, from a storytelling perspective, there should also be a way to decrease the likelihood of these events, like a 'chill' mode. This would really help content creators like me who are trying to set up a save file to share with new narratives but my sims just got pregnant with an alien baby, and I wasn't ready for that.
The Sims 4 is a beautiful game, but it’s beautiful like a Barbie. Sims 4 is a digital Barbie dream house unfortunately.
In order to create more depth we need a few things in the game that are missing:
1.) Consequences and more True to life experiences: - Applying for jobs should require a little more difficulty (actual applications, rabbit hole interviews, x% chance of getting said job depending on the level of the job and the sim’s qualifications) - Sims should naturally deteriorate. For example a sim who has a lot of screen time should begin to lose their eyesight (game could require glasses at that point), a sim who listens to loud music all the time should become hard of hearing in their old age, a glutton sim should gain weight easily, while a fit sim should have a hard time gaining fat etc - Things should happen to sims without the player orchestrating drama: friends who are jealous sims should start arguments with your sims if they get a new job, new relationship, etc, burglars need to be back in the game, if a house gets dirty it should get infested with rodents or roaches (that shouldn’t be a thing in a neat sims house who actually cleans a lot, but a slob sim? Absolutely!), sims should flirt with your sim for no reason, some of the sims who are NPC service sims should be rude (good service isn’t a given), unexpected pop quizzes at school for students, more chance card opportunities, flat tires on bikes during long rides, etc. Honestly I’ll take any consequences at this point as the game doesn’t really have them.
2.) Relationship System overhaul & Attraction system - sims need to have realistic relationships (individual relationship bars - not shared), some one sided relationships, cuddling at night, autonomous actions in relationships (why does the active sim have to initiate everything, it would be nice if the other sims who you have no control over contributed to the relationship too), relationship challenges for the couple to gain relationship strength or lose it if the couple doesn’t handle it well (could use existing challenges like Selvadorado jungle trek, or climb mt.komorebi but in addition to the sentiments it can strengthen or decrease the relationship as well as create memories) - Attraction system (all sims shouldn’t be attracted to all other sims). Each sim should have specific likes and dislikes for both physical and personality traits and it should make a difference as to who they do and don’t fall for. It could also cause internal conflicts in a sim is they love a sims personality but not particularly attracted to them or vice versa - Attachment styles in the game: some sims should be avoidant while others are anxious. Maybe some sims are hopeless romantics while others are polyamorous, this could be something that isn’t determined by the player’s choice but has something to do with how they were raised or previous heartbreaks
3.) More Personality - Sims traits should cause them to act different from one another - Remove traits altogether and bring back sliders - add Myers Briggs based personality traits into scale sliders as well (introvert vs extrovert, perceiving vs judging, thinking vs feeling, mean vs kind, neat vs dirty, smart vs dumb, affectionate vs cold, etc) - Bring back zodiac & add zodiac compatibility - Sliders force for sims to not be perfect - it’s a game after all, they can’t be everything at once, they need to overcome challenges - Some things that are traits shouldn’t be traits at all (lactose intolerance, vegetarian, dog lover, cat lover etc, some of these are more preferential or health related and should be in likes and dislikes instead - likes and dislikes need to be elaborated upon: add in food preferences, animal preferences, weather/season preferences (all sims don't need to be scared by thunderstorms, some sims may find them exciting, where as some sims may hate winter but love the summer), fashion preferences, world preferences, etc. Aversions or favorites should cause emotional reactions
4.) bring back simple but amazing things that made the difference - cars picking up for work and buses picking up the kids - Burglars, raccoons, social workers - Sims doing more while cooking (opening drawers, opening cabinets, tasting food while preparing it) - Sims cuddling at night - Etc! I can’t think of everything, but there is just so much sims, sims 2 & 3 brought that sims 4 just doesn’t
5.) Story Progression - please for the love of God have sims in that i’m not playing with progress! Go to work, go to school, graduate, age, fall in love, move, etc
6.) Realistic autonomy - use the sims likes, dislikes and personality to decide what they will autonomously do (also consider their age) for example If a sim is highly creative music lover, they should autonomously start writing a song (especially after a day where a memory was created with another sim, or maybe during a particularly rough day), or if a sim is a glutton and likes cooking they’ll autonomously make a big meal even though they aren’t particularly hungry. They also shouldn’t always do one thing autonomously. I get it mischievous sims, you like to prank toilets! A sim should be multifaceted and not do the same thing 5 times a day. There is no reason a sim should randomly grab a glass of water 4-6 times in a day. There should be a cap to autonomy integrated in the coding.
There is so much opportunity with depth in this game that there is a lot that could be done. The game already has great content and dare I say, the content could come to a screeching hault for a year if that year was devoted to integrating base game depth. I’m sure the sims 4 community would be thrilled to just have that!
I would like to see more interactions with infants, such as changing them on a changing table, feeding on a sofa/ nursing chair, parents interacting with infants at the same time, bathing in a sink. Just things you would normally do with a baby! :smile:
I don't think we'll all ever agree on what we want so I just ask that everything has the ability to be toggled on or off. Nerfing a feature some may have liked as is, is never the way to go in a single player game imo. I am all for options and customization though.
To add depth, you must add more ways to customize our Sims. Three trait slots is not enough to define a Sim but I think likes and dislikes continuing to develop will help flesh that out. Sentiments was a step in the right direction but would like them to be more obvious. Show me instead of tell me. Right now I have to open a panel to read what my Sim is feeling about another Sim instead of slapping them or yelling or stomping off. My toddler is festering a grudge and I have no idea why or what caused it? Or a Sim cheats in front of their partner and they just walk out without reacting but gained a Hurt sentiment. A special dialogue opening up instead would be nice...maybe choose if you want to try to work it out or just end it etc.
Pregnancy and babies are another area I would like to see more depth. I play most of my Sim families with aging off and the longest Season length available in game (28) so I don't want to only experience pregnancy for three days. I have to mod my game to make my Sim pregnancies last for 90 days (which is still too short for me but I want to keep within the in-game seasonal changes and since I can't extend beyond 28 day seasons...) I also tend to wait a year or 2 IRL before I age up a baby so I desperately want more to do with/for them. I just want more control over things like this. I know not everyone plays like me so this is why I suggest toggles or customizable menus.
I don't know if we're allowed to talk about pack refreshes but I'll just say thank you so much for doing that and I look forward to learning just how much you'll be able to update for each one. I assume pack hairs will be updated as we go to blend in better with the newer hairs. Can't wait for a Get To Work refresh since it's one of my favorites and I want to see aliens expanded and improved. I hope as each pack refresh is planned you consider also getting input from players.
I appreciate all you do and thank you for years of entertainment!
Comments
more events like illness or burglar
one of my favorite things is surprise twist to my sims life
so more of that please also please add more whims I think they add
a lot to the game and more drama please sims being happy all the time is no fun
and please make the negative emotions stack like the positive ones
please have sims get invites more
Before starting, I am not a English speaker, so my English could be a little awkward or weird.
Thanks for your understanding in advance. :)
Recently, I’ve been playing the latest expansion pack, Cottage Living.
It is really fun and enjoying. But as you already know, depending on each user's preference, it could affect wether to buy or not.
So, I have some idea that you can play richer if you basic update 3 things.
First, Different feelings for emotions.
I'm satisfied with the profile system updated before.
However, if system about feelings like Secret Crush(or Unrequited Love, One-sided Love / I don’t know what is called :D) is updated, it would be more interesting Sims play.
Second, It was an issue from the last forum, but I'm waiting for an update on the NPC story.
Bring life to the village I live in.
Last, School Interaction of Children / Youth Sims.
In reality or in games, we go to school for a very long time. However, the interaction with the moodlet users can see is too little and tedious. vert little.
Even in recent reality, we can't go to school due to Covid19, but I hope Sims have a more fun school life.
I’m really looking forward for you to see my small idea.
Best wishes.
I’ve been playing The Sims since I was 5 in the year 2000!
Here are my suggestions for improving/implementing more difficulty in the base game:
1) Fix relationships. Make it harder to be friends with other sims. One of the things I loved so much about TS1 was getting level 8, 9, or 10 in a career because you needed so many family friends. Like 10-15! It was hard making friends and keeping friends in that game. Now in TS4 I literally will be bff’s with any sim the first night meeting them… Also implement an attraction system that can be one sided where looks and characteristics actually matter and will influence how likely flirty interactions will go over.
2) Add more danger. More fires, BURGLARS, wildlife *racoon, skunk, gopher and Claire the Bear from TS1. All of these TS1 NPC’s added a wild twist to the game that was annoying but it added some challenge to the game.
3) Revamp Aspirations or add lifetime wishes. Make aspirations take most of a sims life to achieve that can be optional. In TS2, sometimes I would ignore a lifetime want and that was fine with me but having an “endgame” goal really helped me stick with a family for an entire lifetime and not a life stage or two before creating a new family.
I want to thank you so much for taking the time to read this. The Sims is a game I deeply love. It’s my favorite video game ever. I look forward to a future with a lot of improvements and a lot more quality content. <3 <3
Suggestion: Memory Bank?
When sims reach a milestone or share a special experience, a "memory" is triggered, and the player has the option to add it to the sims Memory Bank.
There could be a limit to memories, like there are for Likes/Dislikes - to really ensure their importance.
Examples of what could be important memories.
There should be hundreds for players to choose! (big project, I know
Then it's important for a sim to be able to RECALL this memory and even share it with others to have an impact on their here and now.
A Remember interaction a player can use when they feel like it:
This will help make their sim's existence and life experiences matter.
1. Toddlers. Specifically the check toddler interaction. I play with single parents often and try to avoid having teens and toddlers under the same roof for this reason. It interferes with the gamplay and often feels like the game does not trust the player. Worse, it often interferes with caring of the toddler. Example, reading a toddler to sleep and instead of dozing off, the toddler is getting out of bed to go stand in the middle of the room as the game has automously wiped out the toddler's bedtime story with a check toddler.
2. Traits. A lot of improvement has been made here. Maybe a separate section for dietry requirements though? Doesn't feel like vegetarian or lactose intolerant belong beside creative or dance machine. Would love to see the star signs return too.
3. I would love it if our Sims could own more than one piece of property. It is after all, insinuated that the Landgraabs own several, why not have the option to purchase one of the San Myshuno or Evergreen Harbor apartments at least, collect the rent and be responsible for the maintainence and taxes.
4. More teen activities as well as clothing. I understand why teens need to be the same height as adults due to animation limitations. But can we please have some teen specific activities such proms and clothing which is more specifically for teens, especially in the formal wear.
But again, Sims 4 has occupied more of my time than any other game and it's fair to say it is my favourite game. The graphics still look great after 7 years, love the speech and expressions. Toddlers themselves are the best in 4 by far as well as children.
Let us know what a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game would look like for you.
CHALLENGE
My sims have very little adversity, and when it does occur, it is easily fixed with 2 or 3 clicks. Some things that could bring challenges are:
Random job setbacks or firings. Maybe the company downsized or closed.
Random storm damage to houses and lots. Maybe lightning hit a transformer and now my sims have no power for ? amount of time.
Random events to commercial lots. Maybe the library is closed due to a fire. Maybe the bar is closed for failing a safety inspection.
Uneven relationships. Maybe my sim loves someone who only likes her, or dislikes her.
Random events. Maybe my sim has to pay a fine because she went streaking.
I like the lot challenges, but I don't want every challenge to utilize this system. Life has adversity. The sims, not so much.
DEPTH
Skills, talents, and weaknesses. Maybe my clumsy sim will never get to level 10 fitness, or to level 3 for that matter.
Meaningful traits. Maybe my jealous sims will be jealous again. And why can't my sim develop new quirks as they age?
Meaningful likes and dislikes. If my sim dislikes video games, why does she play them non-stop?
What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?
Romantic relationships. This is an incredibly boring aspect of the game. There is no depth or meaning to this at all. My sim can meet a new sim and have woo hoo with them the same day. With no mods. My sim can meet a married sim, and have woo hoo with them the same day. Again, with no mods. Where is the courtship? Where is the hand holding and slow dancing? Where are the meaningful conversations? Where are the special outings? Where are the serenades? Where are the engagements? Where are the anniversary parties? Where are the vow renewals? Why does this game treat love and romance like it is not a valued or valuable experience?
As a side note, I realize that the request was for base game. However, I feel it would be great if you could un-nerf all the stuff that has been nerfed. The game was more challenging before things were nerfed. I don't always want to fight off vampires, but now, I don't even get to try, even though I paid for it. Please consider adding a toggle for vampires and aliens so they don't show up unless you want them to, and then please set them free. Thank you for your time.
Essentially, it would be good to have more impact on how sims live not just through change of emotions (that needs an overhaul on its own) but really in the game play. Ex: I made my sim do something they dislikes, you should see in the face of the sim and the way they act (not in UI) that they are 🐸🐸🐸🐸. Something like that. It needs to be more than the UI. Since the UI feels detatch from the sim if we cannot see it actualizing in the game play.
Relationships as well - ex: If my sim and another sim do not like each other and that sim walked into the room with my sim, a thought bubble would be nice to show dislike for that sim or maybe randomly 🐸🐸🐸🐸 off the other sim or make it harder to interact with them. Perhaps show frowning when talking. And vise versa. If i like a sim strongly, i wanna see a positive shift to the mood and have a thought bubble with positive on it. To kind of show impact.
We just need to see more impact on what wr make sims do beyond the emotions in the UI.
We need more depth, allow our sims to be introverted or extroverted which would affect whether the sim even agrees to have a conversation with a random townie, have preferences when looking for a romantic partner, make traits have an impact on social interactions so sims clash and don't get along if their personalities are too different. Have our friendships and romantic relationships mean something other than a way to feel a need.
And maybe implement preferences for when a sim initiates or accepts romance interactions. The closest thing we have to that is the Unflirty trait and I hate it because it assumes that everyone not interested in romance is romance and sex repulsed. Not every person on the asexual or aromantic spectrums are sex or romance repulsed! Have it be so we can set conditions that need to be met for a sim to flirt or accept flirts from others, like some might be able to right out of the gate, others require a certain friendship level and some might always refuse regardless. Give us things to make our sims seem more like individuals and less like blank-slate puppets.
Traits are almost meaningless. Sims don't have a personality, they have a series of buffs or debuffs depending on the trait. You can have a lazy sim exercise at the same rate an athletic sim would. Evil and Good sims can still be friends, no one butts heads or gets into fights or arguments unless the player forces the confrontation. It doesn't feel natural. I want to be able to have a sim earn their relationships, I want them to not get along with other sims not because I forcefully made them be mean, but because they simply don't have traits that match up with the other sim's.
I want a sim to be good at some things and bad at others, I want nuance, depth, challenge. The most fun parts of the game are when I'm scraping together money to pay the bills, dealing with stuff breaking once a week, and juggling my sims needs.
Much of what I see here is pulling from older games and I completely agree with what these people are saying, bring back turn on/offs, wants and fears, things that add on to the game to flesh it out.
2. Will items traditionally baked in an oven, ever be slotted into the bake in oven catagory? I've played this game since launch and still always look for cakes under the bake option first.
3. Something I would love to see happen is a 'fertilize all' option for gardening. Those with hand and wrist problems, or low patience struggle with big gardens.
4. Will any of the "playdough" or "molded looking" hairs be reworked, as you have done with previous hairs?
5. Is it possible to get the live menu catagories cleaned up and tagged better? It's often hard to find options, it's very cluttered. (i.e.Write should include write jokes, routines and things like that. Jokes should have tell jokes, perform routine, or something.)
6. Lastly, I am also curious how so many bugs slip through the quality control so frequently? Like the bust the dust at launch. We use hard earned money to buy broken products, and it isn't fair to the fan base. But despite this, I still love you.
Thank you.
P.S. Please bring Jasmine Holiday events to the calendar. It's plausible now since everyone has a calendar!
Note: If sims have a dietary trait it would be good if they would avoid eating things that are contrary to this dietary restriction. Vegetarian sims should avoid meat, not eat it autonomously and get a buff after (which is what they were doing). Not sure if this has been addressed already since I stopped making vegetarian sims and instead manage what sims eat.
Personality Part 1, Likes and Dislikes: I prefer more complex sims. Likes and dislikes are nice but I would prefer if they impacted gameplay more. Such as when sims have free will turned on they could refuse to do some things at times because they dislike them and they could autonomously start doing things they do like. Currently sims will sit and listen to music they don't like, they get a buff but make no attempt to turn the music off or leave the room. They have no reaction at all to favorite colors that I've seen. So the impact is negligible. The likes and dislikes are a perfect entryway to an attraction system. I currently use a mod to add this system and it makes it more challenging as well as rewarding for my sims to have romantic relationships. It would be nice to have it in game.
Personality Part 2, Traits: I loved the trait improvements that have been made. Though the toilet pranking got to be very annoying so I turned it off with a mod. Since it's more of a personal preference to have toilets not be pranked I think it's fine to continue using a mod to turn it off rather that remove it from the game. But going back to trait improvements in general, I would like more trait options so that sims can be more complex. This would make the experience of playing different sims unique. I find that without the modded traits I add to my game, my sims feel rather similar. With a modded trait I created a sim who has ADHD and it was a challenge to get him to finish homework as a child. The solution I found for this was to have him work in a distraction free room and have a parent help him with his homework. It was hard but also rewarding. I made it a routine for his family members do homework or skill activities while he did his homework.
Personality Part 3, Aspirations and Whims: I'm a whim and aspiration based player. Usually I focus more so on completing whims. I won't have my sims get engaged unless they have a whim for it, same for marriage and babies. I even do it for careers to an extent. We have many careers that have no aspirations and we have many expansions that add no whims. It would be great to have more whims and more aspirations. Trying to complete the aspirations and whims along with fulfilling daily needs and maintaining relationships creates a nice level of challenge. Having whims that are based on aspirations would be great.
Personality Part 4, Fear: I actually would prefer fear was something that grew or diminished over time. I find people become less afraid of things with positive experience and more afraid with negative experience. I think fear should be effected by the sims level of knowledge and types of experiences. I wish fear was scale rather than a boolean (terror on/off). I also wish we could specify or randomize what our sims are afraid of. I was terrified of bunnies and butterflies as a kid but loved skeletons and rain. It would be an added challenge to deal with sims that have different fears. You could work towards helping them face their fears. I have always been afraid of heights but I worked on it since childhood so my fear is gone for most mid height things and manageable for very high things like flying.
Personality Part 5, Socialization: I would like sims to autonomously choose social options that let them learn more about others. I would like the autonomy to factor in their personality/mood to determine the types of things the sims say. This leads to more interesting conversations where the sims are doing the driving but I can intervene if I wish. What I like about this is it leads to some sims not getting along at all and some getting along very well. Sims with similar likes (writing, movies) could become friends while discussing these likes. Sims with very different interests may become bored. If they dislike something the other sim likes they could become annoyed when the other sim keeps bringing it up. Currently it's pretty easy to be friends with everyone (without mods) outside of mean sims. I would like making friends and dating to be more of a challenge because the sims may not get along.
Also sims should get to pick the number of kids the eventually want and get upset if accidentally get pregnant again. Example : options for 1child, 2 children , 3 children, 4+ Children
1. Loan Payments! As it was introduced in the University pack, sims going to college who did not have enough money were allowed to take out loans & have an interest put on them as well. I believe that option would be great to do for the sims moving into a house that they cannot afford as well. They can be Mortgage payments and every time the bills come they have to pay a percentage off just like with the Lot Taxes. Along with this, making them go into debt & not only having their Utilities cut off but also a friendly visit from the Repo Man. And once these things begin to happen to them they they have an emotion of shame & embarrassment of the repo man and not having money along with some stress as well. They may ask fo borrow from a close friend or from the bank but they must pay them back or are sent to a new home which is within their income.
2. Job Opportunities! With Get To Work a lot could have been added but hey it’s never too late for The Sims! - For the politician career, they should have to go to the local park or gathering area and campaign their stances of what’s going on in their local communities. They will have to interact with all types of sims to gain their vote. But also have to deal with campaign Rivals and protest against them. Just like in Eco Living where they is voting for the community, there should be votes for who wins to become mayor or World president. Then whoever wins gets almost automatic fame and has a limo & papperazti wherever they go. If they lose they do not get promoted and get shame & embarrassment for 2Days. - For the criminal career, they should be getting arrested when on & off the clock. Add embarrassment & shock to them & their household. The parents should have the emotions of embarrassment when their child is caught. Or if they have any bad traits they feel proud when their child follows the family business. - For the medical career, the sims should have sicknesses that require them to go to the doctors & get medical bills. Or have them be able to call the doctors & get a home visit. But still resulting in getting a bill just like a regular service.
3. Adding More Mischief! Adding the burglars back that come unexpectedly will definitely add the depth, excitement, and challenge into the game that a lot of simmers miss. Having the cops round up the teen sims for sneaking out & breaking curfew. Adding more unexpected opportunities & mischief. Allowing for teen parties to be thrown with the consequences of getting caught by nosy neighbors or by parents coming home unexpectedly.
4. More Responsibilities. Having the option of giving the sim children a chores list for them to do.
5. Being able to change some traits as sims get older.
6. More Cultural hairstyles
7. Midlife crisis!!
Let us know what a higher level of challenge and depth in the Base Game would look like for you. For me, your question is a two-parter. Challenge could be separate from depth (think aspirations), although depth done right can create plenty of challenge.
Independent Challenges:
What would you expect from it?
How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?
It would make it more fun to play as there would be a sense of accomplishment in completing challenges.
Sim Depth:
What would you expect from it?
- Sims to feel more like characters and less like dolls. I want sims that do their own thing according to the personalities I give them, things that have happened, and skills they've learned. I give a sim autonomy because I want them to react and/or do things they want to do. Whims might have given me the ability to do those things for them, if the whims actually aligned with my sims' personalities/wants/goals. Sims who live in an apartment and have no outdoor or plant-related wants / likes / personality traits don't actually want a bee box. And yet, every spring I'm cancelling that whim repeatedly for ALL my sims.
- In terms of personality depth, I expect it to give sims back their uniqueness. If a sim is childish, him pulling out a future cube, sitting down on the floor and playing with it makes total sense. If a grown adult isn't childish or playful, they aren't going to do that. I want my sim to act like their traits suggest. Playful sims pranking toilets is a perfect example. This added depth to the gameplay for me. It was a little broken, since he pranked his own, but it was a definite step in the right direction. Perfectionist sims who restart paintings that aren't excellent or better would be great (if it was implemented to leave the excellent and better ones). These types of things are wonderful and exactly what I'm looking for.
- Sims need independent relationship bars as an option. Make it a menu option so people can keep relationships on easy mode, but the fact that every single sim can make every other sim fall in love with them, leave their spouse if they have one, move in with and marry you within a day or two is laughable. Further challenge would be to add sexuality preferences. Things like gender (with options for one, both, or none), age, relationship status, and interest compatibility should be a factor.
How would this change your current experience of The Sims 4?Hopefully, I could become more attached to my sims again.
What specific aspects of the game would you like to see more depth in?
I want my sims to have personalities and uniqueness. All those things under the simology panel should affect them. Since we're talking base game, I'll stick to traits and age.
Inanimate Challenge and Depth:
From a base game update that increased DIFFICULTY, I would expect:
-A rebalancing of the value of collectibles/farmables/gatherables
As it stands, I play a lot of Runaway Teen/Homeless Sim challenges in the interest of increasing the difficulty of the game, but honestly between going through the various frog, mineral, etc. spawns, what should be a hobby winds up being as or more profitable than a full time job. The same is true of gardening; if you can find a dragonfruit randomly while fishing or through a seed pack, a patch of 4 plants will bankroll your Sims forever. (This isn't base game, but as another example, dumpster diving from Eco Lifestyle is incredibly lucrative for what it is. Who throws away a fridge?)
From the update, I would expect a re-evaluation of the value of farmable goods (dragonfruit are expensive at the grocery store, but not *that* expensive!), and perhaps of the rarity of certain other collectible items. Also, some sort of option to remove the ability to sell from inventory; if I have to go to a marketplace to sell the thing instead of alchemically transmuting it in to simoleons, that'd be equally valuable.
With a reduction in the value of these goods (or increasing the difficulty to obtain them), I would probably play fewer gardeners/collection geeks as my starting Sims.
-Some events that break the status quo
Once you have something in The Sims 4, you pretty much have it forever. Plants live forever if you put a bit of effort in to them, if you're doing a legacy challenge (or similar) the base footprint of your house can be completely set by the end of the first generation, and even great great grandpa's microwave will still be working in the tenth generation.
In an update, while doing my best to avoid turning this in to a wish list, I would expect the addition of burglars, natural disasters, more dangerous fires, or some other catastrophe(s) that can result in a loss of property (or life!), most likely as a lot challenge.
With less stability, I would probably focus less on just saving up money for the best X, where X is whatever appliance I'm presently lacking, because I would understand that it might not be with me forever!
-A change in earning and spending money
As it stands, if you decide to get a job in The Sims 4, you're now set for life. I can't think of a job that doesn't earn enough simoleons to pay the bills for an entire household, and once you have that job, it actually seems to take a little effort to be demoted, much less fired. And when you're first moving in to a house, there isn't a mortgage or home loan to consider, you just *have* the money for the house and a little left over.
From this update, I would expect an option to "start in the negative", under a mortgage with the threat of the Repo-Man if you miss payments, or even a game over if you default (I avoided the wish list item of being able to play as a homeless Sim!). In addition, I would also expect some more realistic bill items (not just increased bills!) like that fire insurance that all Sims seem to have.
Having the specter of debt and threat of eviction over my Sims' head would mean that the cheaper, obviously "wrong" choices for appliances and furniture options would now be necessary sacrifices; shower in that Uncomfortable bathtub for now, but at least I can make my loan payments this week!
What specific aspects of the game do I want more depth in:
-Sim Customization
I'm not talking hairs and clothing here, I mean like handedness, more likes and dislikes for things like meals (the current system is fine as a baseline, but it's weird that there aren't any apparent interaction between Traits and Likes/Dislikes, for example I can have a Lazy sim that likes Fitness), the old Zodiac Signs, etc.
-Relationships
I think what I mostly mean here is that my Sim can notice, pitch woo at, and marry another Sim within a few hours. This is kind of legacy behavior, if my previous experience from The Sims 3 is to be believed, but it's a little cut-and-dry. Compatibility checking, gender preference, unrequited romance or friendship, things of that nature.
-Shopping/Building
The Simple Living lot challenge is a good example of what I mean here; that, but for *everything*. Have to wait to get your new fridge shipped, hire a contractor to add that new bathroom on the second floor, etc. Basically delaying the instant gratification.
I guess that did get a little wish-listy at the end, sorry
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It would be nice if you fixed sims expressions, they seem forced and unnatural like in previous sims titles! We would love if you gave them more human expressions!
DEPTH
-Permanence
I know that sims' lives are short, but I feel like things disappear too quickly from their 'story'
It's not new for people to want a more in-depth memory system similar to past games. I think the sentiments were a step in the right direction, but people who want depth are storytellers and there's something great about remising about events in a sim's life.
-Simstagram
To piggyback off of the last point, I think that the simstagram feature is extremely underused. It could be a very useful and seamless way to bring memories into 2021. You could use your sims' cameras (or cellphones) to take pics whenever you want and add a little caption, then let townies 'react' to posts with likes, dislikes, or emojis based on their relationship? You could even start drama if a sim is in a secret relationship and the sim they are seeing on the side reacts to a post with a heart or kiss emoji and their partner finds out. There is so much you can do with social media in the sims. It would also be a good way to better integrate the notification system.
-Sentimental emotion
I think that adding specifically a 'sentimental' emotion or series of moodlets with unique animations like wiping eyes while smiling or tenderly putting their hand on their hearts would be a great addition. It would be a special case, though. I can see attaching an imprint of some kind on certain items like handmade objects or photos, but I think you could also have a shelf or display that your sims can place items on and you can manually attach a sentiment to the item for that sim or select a few sims for the sentiment. For instance, I have my grandfather's carvings and every once in a while, I'll ok on the special shelf they're at and be reminded of him, but other people would just see a carving.
-Emotions
Emotions need to be more noticeably gradated when switching from one to another. Especially when there is a big life event. I thing that allowing sims to have mixed emotions sets the stage for great gameplay and makes them feel more human. If you had a sim who lost a parent, maybe they can be getting ready in the morning after while still sad and after brushing their teeth, when they would normally be confident, they take a breath and the emotion section SLOWLY fills with the confident color. Rather than flipping a card from one to another, that section of the screen would slowly fill with different colors as a sim's mood changed. It's a bit hard to describe my idea, but I hope it makes sense.
DIFFICULTY
-Levels
I think that the best way to make the game accessible to more playstyles is to have some advanced gameplay options and difficulty levels. I really enjoy the lot challenges, and I think that was a great move, but for the gameplay as a whole, I think giving the player more control on certain things would help with the challenge. I think that having a preset 'Extreme' mode where sims are more likely to get abducted or bitten by a vampire, or struck by lighting, etc. could be a lot of chaotic fun. I also think that, from a storytelling perspective, there should also be a way to decrease the likelihood of these events, like a 'chill' mode. This would really help content creators like me who are trying to set up a save file to share with new narratives but my sims just got pregnant with an alien baby, and I wasn't ready for that.
The Sims 4 is a beautiful game, but it’s beautiful like a Barbie. Sims 4 is a digital Barbie dream house unfortunately.
In order to create more depth we need a few things in the game that are missing:
1.) Consequences and more True to life experiences:
- Applying for jobs should require a little more difficulty (actual applications, rabbit hole interviews, x% chance of getting said job depending on the level of the job and the sim’s qualifications)
- Sims should naturally deteriorate. For example a sim who has a lot of screen time should begin to lose their eyesight (game could require glasses at that point), a sim who listens to loud music all the time should become hard of hearing in their old age, a glutton sim should gain weight easily, while a fit sim should have a hard time gaining fat etc
- Things should happen to sims without the player orchestrating drama: friends who are jealous sims should start arguments with your sims if they get a new job, new relationship, etc, burglars need to be back in the game, if a house gets dirty it should get infested with rodents or roaches (that shouldn’t be a thing in a neat sims house who actually cleans a lot, but a slob sim? Absolutely!), sims should flirt with your sim for no reason, some of the sims who are NPC service sims should be rude (good service isn’t a given), unexpected pop quizzes at school for students, more chance card opportunities, flat tires on bikes during long rides, etc. Honestly I’ll take any consequences at this point as the game doesn’t really have them.
2.) Relationship System overhaul & Attraction system
- sims need to have realistic relationships (individual relationship bars - not shared), some one sided relationships, cuddling at night, autonomous actions in relationships (why does the active sim have to initiate everything, it would be nice if the other sims who you have no control over contributed to the relationship too), relationship challenges for the couple to gain relationship strength or lose it if the couple doesn’t handle it well (could use existing challenges like Selvadorado jungle trek, or climb mt.komorebi but in addition to the sentiments it can strengthen or decrease the relationship as well as create memories)
- Attraction system (all sims shouldn’t be attracted to all other sims). Each sim should have specific likes and dislikes for both physical and personality traits and it should make a difference as to who they do and don’t fall for. It could also cause internal conflicts in a sim is they love a sims personality but not particularly attracted to them or vice versa
- Attachment styles in the game: some sims should be avoidant while others are anxious. Maybe some sims are hopeless romantics while others are polyamorous, this could be something that isn’t determined by the player’s choice but has something to do with how they were raised or previous heartbreaks
3.) More Personality
- Sims traits should cause them to act different from one another
- Remove traits altogether and bring back sliders
- add Myers Briggs based personality traits into scale sliders as well (introvert vs extrovert, perceiving vs judging, thinking vs feeling, mean vs kind, neat vs dirty, smart vs dumb, affectionate vs cold, etc)
- Bring back zodiac & add zodiac compatibility
- Sliders force for sims to not be perfect - it’s a game after all, they can’t be everything at once, they need to overcome challenges
- Some things that are traits shouldn’t be traits at all (lactose intolerance, vegetarian, dog lover, cat lover etc, some of these are more preferential or health related and should be in likes and dislikes instead
- likes and dislikes need to be elaborated upon: add in food preferences, animal preferences, weather/season preferences (all sims don't need to be scared by thunderstorms, some sims may find them exciting, where as some sims may hate winter but love the summer), fashion preferences, world preferences, etc. Aversions or favorites should cause emotional reactions
4.) bring back simple but amazing things that made the difference
- cars picking up for work and buses picking up the kids
- Burglars, raccoons, social workers
- Sims doing more while cooking (opening drawers, opening cabinets, tasting food while preparing it)
- Sims cuddling at night
- Etc! I can’t think of everything, but there is just so much sims, sims 2 & 3 brought that sims 4 just doesn’t
5.) Story Progression
- please for the love of God have sims in that i’m not playing with progress! Go to work, go to school, graduate, age, fall in love, move, etc
6.) Realistic autonomy
- use the sims likes, dislikes and personality to decide what they will autonomously do (also consider their age) for example If a sim is highly creative music lover, they should autonomously start writing a song (especially after a day where a memory was created with another sim, or maybe during a particularly rough day), or if a sim is a glutton and likes cooking they’ll autonomously make a big meal even though they aren’t particularly hungry. They also shouldn’t always do one thing autonomously. I get it mischievous sims, you like to prank toilets! A sim should be multifaceted and not do the same thing 5 times a day. There is no reason a sim should randomly grab a glass of water 4-6 times in a day. There should be a cap to autonomy integrated in the coding.
There is so much opportunity with depth in this game that there is a lot that could be done. The game already has great content and dare I say, the content could come to a screeching hault for a year if that year was devoted to integrating base game depth. I’m sure the sims 4 community would be thrilled to just have that!
I don't think we'll all ever agree on what we want so I just ask that everything has the ability to be toggled on or off. Nerfing a feature some may have liked as is, is never the way to go in a single player game imo. I am all for options and customization though.
To add depth, you must add more ways to customize our Sims. Three trait slots is not enough to define a Sim but I think likes and dislikes continuing to develop will help flesh that out. Sentiments was a step in the right direction but would like them to be more obvious. Show me instead of tell me. Right now I have to open a panel to read what my Sim is feeling about another Sim instead of slapping them or yelling or stomping off. My toddler is festering a grudge and I have no idea why or what caused it? Or a Sim cheats in front of their partner and they just walk out without reacting but gained a Hurt sentiment. A special dialogue opening up instead would be nice...maybe choose if you want to try to work it out or just end it etc.
Pregnancy and babies are another area I would like to see more depth. I play most of my Sim families with aging off and the longest Season length available in game (28) so I don't want to only experience pregnancy for three days. I have to mod my game to make my Sim pregnancies last for 90 days (which is still too short for me but I want to keep within the in-game seasonal changes and since I can't extend beyond 28 day seasons...) I also tend to wait a year or 2 IRL before I age up a baby so I desperately want more to do with/for them. I just want more control over things like this. I know not everyone plays like me so this is why I suggest toggles or customizable menus.
I don't know if we're allowed to talk about pack refreshes but I'll just say thank you so much for doing that and I look forward to learning just how much you'll be able to update for each one. I assume pack hairs will be updated as we go to blend in better with the newer hairs. Can't wait for a Get To Work refresh since it's one of my favorites and I want to see aliens expanded and improved. I hope as each pack refresh is planned you consider also getting input from players.
I appreciate all you do and thank you for years of entertainment!