I'm going to create a save with all of the original NPCs just incase I don't like the new look, and I can replace them if need be.
I understand that the concept art is still in its very early days, and I appreciated them giving us a preview of their unfinished work so that they can work from our opinions and reactions. I think they have a very tough job on their hands and I wouldn't want to be in their shoes!
My only criticisms is that I'd like for Dina and Nina to have green eyes as they have (I believe) in every other game. Bella is a very beautiful Sim, I see why they would want to make her look older, but older women can still be beautiful and glamorous! (Maybe it's just the lack of make up).
Hopefully they update their hairstyles, I think that would make the world if difference.
I like all the updates except for Bella. Her nose is different and she's lost her beauty. Would like to see what they've done with the other family members in the Goth and Caliente families. I noted that on the livestream they mentioned the hairs would be different from the pictures shown. And I do like Mortimer looking older, he is a whole age group older than Bella.
Errr... I don't really get the point of this. What I actually hoped to see was for them to introduce "scenarios" like in TS2 and make their bios consistent with the game. Pre-established relationships, sentiments and such. Like how in TS2 Daniel Pleasant already had an ongoing affair with their maid and Angela and Lilith were at each others' throats. TS4 is really lacking on that front, like according to the bios Vlad and the Vatores are supposed to be enemies, yet in the game they don't even know each other. I thought with an NPC overhaul these type of things would be addressed and thus their stories would actually be utilized in the game.
I guess they can still do that but if not and it's only a cosmetic change I don't really get the point.
I have a question about the new looks. Will it only affect new saves or will it transform these Sims in our current games as well? Just asking for a heads up and in case preparation is needed.
I am wondering about this as well. Earlier this year I had a bug that reset NPC names I had edited in my save. I had changed some because the names are translated in my game anyway. And I wasn't the only one. The posts about resetting names are found within a thread about lore updates https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/992652/regarding-premades-lore-updates/p4
I hope the update will only affect new games but I will be backing up Sims and upload the NPC with changes to the gallery just in case.
I had that issue too, and this worries me a lot. I have copies of all the premade sims in my library (edited the way I want), and I’m worried the changes will carry to even those copies since the name reverting did.
Thank you for the heads up! I, too, have saved my favorites to my library when the lore update was announced already.
If you use MCCC, here's a method for added safety that you could try before the update:
- Save your favorite premade households to your library
- Create a new household with sims of the correct age and gender, give them the premades' names, outfits, traits, likes and bodyshape
- Use MCCAS's "copy sim" command on the new sims and choose your library sims as donors
- Now you should have a full household of sims with the correct faces, and that have different IDs from the premades. Changes to the premades won't affect them.
I don't have many favorites, so this method will work for me. If you like them all, then it is probably too tedious.
Errr... I don't really get the point of this. What I actually hoped to see was for them to introduce "scenarios" like in TS2 and make their bios consistent with the game. Pre-established relationships, sentiments and such. Like how in TS2 Daniel Pleasant already had an ongoing affair with their maid and Angela and Lilith were at each others' throats. TS4 is really lacking on that front, like according to the bios Vlad and the Vatores are supposed to be enemies, yet in the game they don't even know each other. I thought with an NPC overhaul these type of things would be addressed and thus their stories would actually be utilized in the game.
I guess they can still do that but if not and it's only a cosmetic change I don't really get the point.
They just showed their progress so far and they probably won't reveal the lore until it launches so ppl can explore for themselves
I'd rather they kept the Goths the original way than have them look like this. It's true that a lot of the NPCs need an overhaul, but this looks worse than better.
I still think making Nina and Dina's eyes brown is probably not the best approach. Since they are established characters in the series, it's still important that they look like, well, themselves.
The hair color change I do appreciate cause they already DON'T have the right hair colors in The Sims 4, Dina having a lighter, less vibrant blonde and Nina having a slightly darker red would fit much better.
As for their skintones, they should be warmer, same for Bella. Speaking of Bella, Cassandra should have a skintone more similar to her mother's, like she had in Sims 1 and 2.
I have a question about the new looks. Will it only affect new saves or will it transform these Sims in our current games as well? Just asking for a heads up and in case preparation is needed.
I am wondering about this as well. Earlier this year I had a bug that reset NPC names I had edited in my save. I had changed some because the names are translated in my game anyway. And I wasn't the only one. The posts about resetting names are found within a thread about lore updates https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/992652/regarding-premades-lore-updates/p4
I hope the update will only affect new games but I will be backing up Sims and upload the NPC with changes to the gallery just in case.
I had that issue too, and this worries me a lot. I have copies of all the premade sims in my library (edited the way I want), and I’m worried the changes will carry to even those copies since the name reverting did.
Thank you for the heads up! I, too, have saved my favorites to my library when the lore update was announced already.
If you use MCCC, here's a method for added safety that you could try before the update:
- Save your favorite premade households to your library
- Create a new household with sims of the correct age and gender, give them the premades' names, outfits, traits, likes and bodyshape
- Use MCCAS's "copy sim" command on the new sims and choose your library sims as donors
- Now you should have a full household of sims with the correct faces, and that have different IDs from the premades. Changes to the premades won't affect them.
I don't have many favorites, so this method will work for me. If you like them all, then it is probably too tedious.
Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that feature, thank you for the reminder! I do like most of them, so it’s going to take some work. I guess I know what I’ll be doing over the holiday break..
This iteration of the game was released in 2014, why is this being done now? Why was this not considered before releasing them into the game in the first place? Complete waste of time and honestly resources (labor) that could be put to better use for this franchise.
This iteration of the game was released in 2014, why is this being done now? Why was this not considered before releasing them into the game in the first place? Complete waste of time and honestly resources (labor) that could be put to better use for this franchise.
They are doing it because simmers were twitter rioting about it some time ago. Mainly complaining of whitewashing because they were not brown enough. 🤷♀️
Personally I think there are a lot more important things I wish they would be working on instead....
This iteration of the game was released in 2014, why is this being done now? Why was this not considered before releasing them into the game in the first place? Complete waste of time and honestly resources (labor) that could be put to better use for this franchise.
They are doing it because simmers were twitter rioting about it some time ago. Mainly complaining of whitewashing because they were not brown enough. 🤷♀️
I would understand more if this was fixed way back when the game released, but it’s been this way for so long. Now I don’t mean to sound like I disagree with the complaints, the skin tones were in fact very off for these Sims. However it is so easy to change them, I made my edits early on and updated for new dlc as needed. So many players seem to use a base save that they created themselves anyway. I agree that resources could have probably been better used elsewhere. Just my opinion
This iteration of the game was released in 2014, why is this being done now? Why was this not considered before releasing them into the game in the first place? Complete waste of time and honestly resources (labor) that could be put to better use for this franchise.
They are doing it because simmers were twitter rioting about it some time ago. Mainly complaining of whitewashing because they were not brown enough. 🤷♀️
I would understand more if this was fixed way back when the game released, but it’s been this way for so long. Now I don’t mean to sound like I disagree with the complaints, the skin tones were in fact very off for these Sims. However it is so easy to change them, I made my edits early on and updated for new dlc as needed. So many players seem to use a base save that they created themselves anyway. I agree that resources could have probably been better used elsewhere. Just my opinion
I kinda agree too, if it's something that I often feel with Maxis and the sims4 these days it's that we are seeing very small changes over a long period of time and for people that have played the game for so long already, these changes don't mean that much.
I think it's good that they are updating them but I don't understand why it has taken so long. Almost like the people in charge of Maxis didn't want them to do it and now they can do it because they have more free reign.
I dunno, it's weird. It almost feels like it's a different team in charge now with more limited resources but also more freedom.
While Bella has always been my favourite prepare, am I the only one who always thought her face was always super generic? Her "hotness" was always down to her outfits. The Sims 2 had a huge problem with its creation system in that any deviation from faces 1 and 2 usually ended up with unattractive faces, for example Nina looks incredibly scrawny and angular. Likewise, the heads in TS1 all lacked that much detail, and everyone had quite squarish jaws (even the women) as part of this limitation. I just feel like Cinderellimouse is just projecting something on to Bella that Bella never really had.
One could even argue that Bella lost all her ethnic identity in TS2 in favour of this genericness as in TS1 both she and Michael had heads designed to be Asian. Yet we have people who insist she is Italian, or Hispanic, or black, even though its never mentioned - the Bachelors aren't as consistently a single identity as the Goths (who have always been given Germanish names) or the Crumplebottoms (who have been consistently English).
Not to mention we have three to four different Malcolm Landgraabs who all vary in appearance and family that they can only be seen as completely different people (even the wiki struggles to reconcile it), compare Malcolm in his earliest appearance in SimCity 3000 with the one in the Sims 3 and 4.
I think one of the problems with Sims "lore" is that we have a lot of "experts" on it, who view their own opinion and interpretation on it as gospel and unshakeable fact (of course I am also including myself in this), especially since the franchise isn't consistent in its lore.
It seems to me, they stopped doing the whole wider lore shared universe thing after the Sims 2 base game, that is when they stopped referencing people, places and organisations from previous games, like how Dudley and Mimi Landgraab were mentioned in the culinary career, but dropped completely in favour of random Malcolm Landgraab #6 in Open For Business. But the base game also had references to the Below Average Bowlers League from SimCity 3000, Hedman's Hideaway from Hot Date, had objects manufactured by Shiny Things Inc. These sorts of references stopped after the base game, so abruptly that it sort of feels like a particular writer left between the base game and the expansions.
However, I do feel we are going to get the same families at the same stages in 5 as we had in 4, because everyone wants to play with adult Bella, not a Bella that is too old or dead, but at the same time they want prime trashy Caliente twins, they want Nancy Landgraab, and not her son who is literally the only reoccurring sims character that predates the Sims. They want the Pleasant twins, they want Agnes Crumplebottom, they want Olive Specter. This is despite all of them being from different parts of the "timeline", these are the popular characters that are.
Based on what I'm seeing so far, I do not like these "makeovers" at all they're quite honestly in my opinion, terrible. Especially Bella. They pretty much destroyed her entirely. It's extremely dissapointing to me, and I hope the "final" products look nothing like the concept art.
They made Bella look waaaayyyyyy older than what she is now/I assume she's supposed to be. She looks to be in her 50s at least (to me) I always found it strange that as a young adult, she had a teenage daughter, but I always assumed she just had Cassandra younger (like 18-20) which would put her in her Mid to late 30s.
Mortimer's not terrible but like Bella, he looks seriously older too. (like 60+ I'd say) Other than going overboard on making him look a heck of a lot older, I think he's mostly okay.
Caliente Sisters - Again, they seem to have aged them up quite a bit, (I think the eye bags are too deep, maybe) but they aren't nearly as bad as Bella and Mortimer. I find it more noticable on Dina than Nina for some reason though? Nina honestly looks pretty decent to me for the most part. I agree she's in need of a hairstyle change and the green eyes, but otherwise isn't too bad. Then again, just about anything would have been better than the default look she was given.
Also, what is up with the corpse-y gray looking skin tone???
I don’t understand the logic in editing their images outside of the game. If the right tools don’t exist ingame, they need to be created anyway, so what’s the point of doing a mockup that will most certainly change? I think it would be better for them to remind themselves what we’re working with, realize what we’re missing, and create new options to play around with beyond what any given character “needs”.
Mortimer looks 20 years older than before. I don‘t like it.
It's funny because I hate how young they both look. Mortimer and Bella in The Sims Bustin' Out I'm pretty sure would have been considered elders (but that game didn't have life stages like that). Mortimer had white hair, so I always knew Mortimer and Bella as older. It's interesting how different some of the timelines were in the franchise.
Honestly, the more I look at this, the more I realize this gives off the same energy as those self righteous D-bags on Tumblr and Twitter taking art of characters and making them more unattractive, oops, I mean "realistic" and saying "There, I fixed your art for you."
Maybe it won't look so bad when the characters are fully rendered ingame, but as of right now, this concept art is telling me to abandon all hope.
Comments
I understand that the concept art is still in its very early days, and I appreciated them giving us a preview of their unfinished work so that they can work from our opinions and reactions. I think they have a very tough job on their hands and I wouldn't want to be in their shoes!
My only criticisms is that I'd like for Dina and Nina to have green eyes as they have (I believe) in every other game. Bella is a very beautiful Sim, I see why they would want to make her look older, but older women can still be beautiful and glamorous! (Maybe it's just the lack of make up).
Hopefully they update their hairstyles, I think that would make the world if difference.
I guess they can still do that but if not and it's only a cosmetic change I don't really get the point.
Thank you for the heads up! I, too, have saved my favorites to my library when the lore update was announced already.
If you use MCCC, here's a method for added safety that you could try before the update:
- Save your favorite premade households to your library
- Create a new household with sims of the correct age and gender, give them the premades' names, outfits, traits, likes and bodyshape
- Use MCCAS's "copy sim" command on the new sims and choose your library sims as donors
- Now you should have a full household of sims with the correct faces, and that have different IDs from the premades. Changes to the premades won't affect them.
I don't have many favorites, so this method will work for me. If you like them all, then it is probably too tedious.
They just showed their progress so far and they probably won't reveal the lore until it launches so ppl can explore for themselves
The hair color change I do appreciate cause they already DON'T have the right hair colors in The Sims 4, Dina having a lighter, less vibrant blonde and Nina having a slightly darker red would fit much better.
As for their skintones, they should be warmer, same for Bella. Speaking of Bella, Cassandra should have a skintone more similar to her mother's, like she had in Sims 1 and 2.
Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that feature, thank you for the reminder! I do like most of them, so it’s going to take some work. I guess I know what I’ll be doing over the holiday break..
and now I have to revamp some things. LOL.
They are doing it because simmers were twitter rioting about it some time ago. Mainly complaining of whitewashing because they were not brown enough. 🤷♀️
Personally I think there are a lot more important things I wish they would be working on instead....
I kinda agree too, if it's something that I often feel with Maxis and the sims4 these days it's that we are seeing very small changes over a long period of time and for people that have played the game for so long already, these changes don't mean that much.
I think it's good that they are updating them but I don't understand why it has taken so long. Almost like the people in charge of Maxis didn't want them to do it and now they can do it because they have more free reign.
I dunno, it's weird. It almost feels like it's a different team in charge now with more limited resources but also more freedom.
TINY HOUSE CHALLENGE
The May Family
Modeling Career?
While Bella has always been my favourite prepare, am I the only one who always thought her face was always super generic? Her "hotness" was always down to her outfits. The Sims 2 had a huge problem with its creation system in that any deviation from faces 1 and 2 usually ended up with unattractive faces, for example Nina looks incredibly scrawny and angular. Likewise, the heads in TS1 all lacked that much detail, and everyone had quite squarish jaws (even the women) as part of this limitation. I just feel like Cinderellimouse is just projecting something on to Bella that Bella never really had.
One could even argue that Bella lost all her ethnic identity in TS2 in favour of this genericness as in TS1 both she and Michael had heads designed to be Asian. Yet we have people who insist she is Italian, or Hispanic, or black, even though its never mentioned - the Bachelors aren't as consistently a single identity as the Goths (who have always been given Germanish names) or the Crumplebottoms (who have been consistently English).
Not to mention we have three to four different Malcolm Landgraabs who all vary in appearance and family that they can only be seen as completely different people (even the wiki struggles to reconcile it), compare Malcolm in his earliest appearance in SimCity 3000 with the one in the Sims 3 and 4.
I think one of the problems with Sims "lore" is that we have a lot of "experts" on it, who view their own opinion and interpretation on it as gospel and unshakeable fact (of course I am also including myself in this), especially since the franchise isn't consistent in its lore.
It seems to me, they stopped doing the whole wider lore shared universe thing after the Sims 2 base game, that is when they stopped referencing people, places and organisations from previous games, like how Dudley and Mimi Landgraab were mentioned in the culinary career, but dropped completely in favour of random Malcolm Landgraab #6 in Open For Business. But the base game also had references to the Below Average Bowlers League from SimCity 3000, Hedman's Hideaway from Hot Date, had objects manufactured by Shiny Things Inc. These sorts of references stopped after the base game, so abruptly that it sort of feels like a particular writer left between the base game and the expansions.
However, I do feel we are going to get the same families at the same stages in 5 as we had in 4, because everyone wants to play with adult Bella, not a Bella that is too old or dead, but at the same time they want prime trashy Caliente twins, they want Nancy Landgraab, and not her son who is literally the only reoccurring sims character that predates the Sims. They want the Pleasant twins, they want Agnes Crumplebottom, they want Olive Specter. This is despite all of them being from different parts of the "timeline", these are the popular characters that are.
I do like Bella 😊.
The Caliente sisters still need work. I don’t like the new look it doesn’t improve them. Why don’t they look at The Sims 2 anymore?
And why is Mortimer aged up?! 🤷🏼♂️
I don’t like them.
—T
Also, I don't get why they had to make concept art for this? It would literally take an hour to fix the sims in cas??
They made Bella look waaaayyyyyy older than what she is now/I assume she's supposed to be. She looks to be in her 50s at least (to me) I always found it strange that as a young adult, she had a teenage daughter, but I always assumed she just had Cassandra younger (like 18-20) which would put her in her Mid to late 30s.
Mortimer's not terrible but like Bella, he looks seriously older too. (like 60+ I'd say) Other than going overboard on making him look a heck of a lot older, I think he's mostly okay.
Caliente Sisters - Again, they seem to have aged them up quite a bit, (I think the eye bags are too deep, maybe) but they aren't nearly as bad as Bella and Mortimer. I find it more noticable on Dina than Nina for some reason though? Nina honestly looks pretty decent to me for the most part. I agree she's in need of a hairstyle change and the green eyes, but otherwise isn't too bad. Then again, just about anything would have been better than the default look she was given.
Also, what is up with the corpse-y gray looking skin tone???
It's funny because I hate how young they both look. Mortimer and Bella in The Sims Bustin' Out I'm pretty sure would have been considered elders (but that game didn't have life stages like that). Mortimer had white hair, so I always knew Mortimer and Bella as older. It's interesting how different some of the timelines were in the franchise.
Maybe it won't look so bad when the characters are fully rendered ingame, but as of right now, this concept art is telling me to abandon all hope.
Brutta Goth ...