As others have said, the mistake was releasing part of it with just a promise that they will release the toggle later. They should have waited to release any of it until they had the toggle ready.
Personally, I think it sounds fun for some saves but I have no use for it in my current main save. So I just really need the toggles so I can play with it when I want, and only when I want.
I’ve enjoyed my experience so far with Neighborhood Stories; the way they have implemented it works with my playstyle and doesn’t feel intrusive. I prefer it when my sims “tell” me what they want rather than me making all their choices for them. Sometimes I’ve already made up my mind, though so I like always having the option.
For example, Mila Munch started dating the newly generated Mayor of HoB. She was also friends-with-benefits with Jacques Villareal (who was more attracted to his maid) and I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to bother taking her relationship with the mayor to the next level. She’s sort of a side character to her children. But she called Jacques about the ring in the mayor’s bag and he replied “do what you want” because neither of us really care. Then Jacques died, so I don’t know what happened with Mila. But I am already looking forward to getting back to her household to find out.
I agree that they should have released the feature with an overall toggle, though. If some players have already decided they won’t entertain these questions, they shouldn’t have to deal with them. While they are at it, they should add a toggle for the career offers that come via phone to reputable sims, because I have never once accepted those and I know I never will. I was surprised at what I am willing to respond with Neighborhood Stories, though. I would have been inclined to mark certain households safe from it if that part of the feature was already available, and then I’d be missing out on how much fun it could possibly be.
I like it so far, so I don’t think it was a mistake. Initially, when it was first announced, I was worried about it being too intrusive but it’s not and I’m happy about that.
I do think it needs some tuning, though, because some of the calls don’t make sense. Like when your sim gets a call from their significant other about finding a ring in their bag. My sim got that call from their girlfriend literally a day after they started dating officially and it was weird.
I mostly play rotationally, and wouldn’t mind story progression if I could turn it on and off per family, or just turn it off completely. I could see using if it in a legacy family or something like that, otherwise I might find it as more of a annoyance.
The idea behind neighbourhoodstories is not a mistake because a part of the simmers out there is asking for story progression. The mistake is in the execution.
- it would have been better if they had waited and released a version with a toggle to start with. The fact that they released it half finished gives the impression that they want us to test it as beta testers
- this version is trying to find a sort of middle ground for those who want the feature and those who don't want it. For those who want story progression, the phone calls are unwanted because they like this system to work on it's own without asking permission every time. For those who don't want it, it is annoying to have to ignore the messages and click no every time. While trying to please two different ways to play the game at the same time, both sides didn't get entirely what they want. Hopefully the final version will correct this.
At least the pop up phone call questions don't effect your relationship, because I just had my Sim's best friend call and she asked should she have another baby, (She has 6 kids already and household limit is full) I just had her say no, and her friend agreed.
I find this system annoying as all heck and I've completely shelved sims 4 now. The previous phone calls were enough to drive me bonkers, but add in this random mess and none of it has anything to do with what is happening in my actual game.
I dunno...in a game where you play how you want and there's no "story" to it, the made up nonsense is just distracting and unnecessary. So for me, I hate this new system because every single character in my game is my own and all have their own lives going on that I created and am very aware of. This just adds garbage in a pile and ruins what I have going on in my world. I'm happy for those who want it, but now I don't have a game to play.
I wish EA would put out tools that the community can use to personalize their games. I'd love a world builder, to make my own whims to make a government system, to create community events, etc.
Maybe I'm wrong but for me story progression is not to know what happens in other households. If I visit my friend I want to be surprised that they're having a baby or being engaged. But I don't want to have story progression in my game because I don't like to be surprised.
The biggest mistake was to release this feature too early with no options to turn it off. I don't want to be pessimistic and I hope the future update will give us a lot of settings for it soon. But on the other side we all know how long it could take and that not everything is like we wanted it to be.
From what I have read, I feel it's all willy nilly. It seems to be a bunch of coded random phone calls that the game has no idea what has been happening with any Sim. So, it just makes up stuff and ask the player to comment, yes or no. It won't matter if you told a Sim to start a relationship with someone and or have a baby with someone or get married or whatever. The game will still play the game as it has always done and stick that Sim you just advised with any other Sim, usually some old dude from the bin. So, you wasted your time and advice if you told a caller to yes, go out with so and so and or marry so and so etc. It won't matter because later you might wind up seeing them with some random old guy from the bin.
What happens if a player deletes all the townies because we get tired of the game generating the same type and or actual clone Sims? Well, all that advice is down the drain isn't it? It's fluff and nothing more. It's what some gamers call 'busy work' when developers add things that really don't matter that much and just giving players some busy work to make them think the game has depth.
I'm not a fan of story progression and especially if TS4's is also playing my own Sims in other households and or Sims I leave in the houses even if unplayed. There are dozens of reasons players leave the premades in some of the houses so there will at least be some stability in the neighborhood and not so much culling going on, imagine if those households changed as often as they did in TS3. But from what I read not only does this story progression mess with those Sims we may place in houses (played or unplayed) and or the random townies but our own played Sims when we rotate or even while still playing them currently. That's just a mess and all willy nilly.
Maxis' reputation is faltering badly. Though the other games had bugs and some problems, TS4 is famous for being a big fat mess.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
This attempt at story progression has been seen by me as terrible and not very well released. Many simmers already vocalized that the all phone calls are too frequent and are completely ridiculous. So, what do they decide to implement but more ridiculous types of phone calls. The other problem is that the neighbors/npc calling for permission is very immersion-breaking for me. That might be fine for some "storyteller players." For me though, it means makes the game unplayable. I can not play certain saves until I know for certain that the feature is completed AND there are mods that fix the features they inevitably will forget/leave in a terrible state.
It would be a “mistake” if EA didn’t even try to implement something that has been requested by so many players.
I haven’t been able to dedicate much time to my live mode adventures so I can’t say anything about it.
Some people say the calls are too frequent, others say they are not frequent at all. What can you say?
The fact that the neighborhood stories on/off button hasn’t been added yet might just be because EA wants to learn how players react to these calls and what answers they choose. Right now it’s forced, so you have to choose, even if it’s by opting out during the phone call. I dunno. I’m just blabbering.
Personally I would prefer a toggle per save though. Neighbourhood stories would suit some of my saves, but not most.
I have many “phones don’t exist here” saves which makes me a “get that phone out of my face” kinda guy. Write it on a piece of parchment and send a messenger for crying out loud.
“A baby? Why even ask such a foolish question?! Babies are banned in my Kingdom! Off with your head! NEXT!”
I find this system annoying as all heck and I've completely shelved sims 4 now. The previous phone calls were enough to drive me bonkers, but add in this random mess and none of it has anything to do with what is happening in my actual game.
I dunno...in a game where you play how you want and there's no "story" to it, the made up nonsense is just distracting and unnecessary. So for me, I hate this new system because every single character in my game is my own and all have their own lives going on that I created and am very aware of. This just adds garbage in a pile and ruins what I have going on in my world. I'm happy for those who want it, but now I don't have a game to play.
I wish EA would put out tools that the community can use to personalize their games. I'd love a world builder, to make my own whims to make a government system, to create community events, etc.
Government systems are somewhat in game with NAPs, IL Environmental Manager career (setting laws etc) and CL Politics career.
I was not happy when I first heard about this, but I feel a bit better after reading some of the comments here. I haven't played Sims since it was first implemented, because all of the housed Sims in my main game save are part of my rotational play. There are hundreds of them and I was afraid that it would break all my relationships and stuff that I have spent so much time building.
I'm going to give it a try, now and see for myself. I have a saved game that I use primarily to test stuff out with, so I'm going to play that for a while and see how it goes. Hopefully, I can get back to playing my main save as well.
Promises can be broken and EA/Maxis broken promises quite a few times. They are releasing options in parts now instead of doing it at one time, I will not hold my breath.
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Keep in mind that Neighborhood Stories is not supposed to be the same thing as TS3 Story Progression. The devs have explained that in TS3, Story Progression was one giant system so deeply integrated into the game that it was an " all or nothing" approach but the "all" still wasn't "all". Turning it off was still limited and left certain things running.
With NS, they are doing segments so that there will be multiple toggles (as I understand it) so that players can better customize it to their own games. This recent patch was more preliminary and I suspect, something of a minor test run. They will most likely be tweaking it as they go.
I'd recommend to keep leaving feedback regarding what we like and don't like and what works and doesn't because this is going to be a process, and not a simple one.
@LiELF my fear is that the "neighborhood stories" feature is done with interrupting phone calls. That seems to be their "go-to" for everything. I want ZERO phone calls. So unless they can make it happen without having other sims call my family it is not a good feature whatsoever.
@LiELF my fear is that the "neighborhood stories" feature is done with interrupting phone calls. That seems to be their "go-to" for everything. I want ZERO phone calls. So unless they can make it happen without having other sims call my family it is not a good feature whatsoever.
I understand. I've always wanted a way to turn off the phone completely to get no calls and no texts at all. I still want to be able to do that. It's always been rather intrusive. Oddly enough, I've found that since this first installation of Neighborhood Stories, I've been getting fewer calls in general and mostly from Sims that my own Sim knows and has some sort of friendship with. I don't think that's the case for everyone, though.
@LiELF my fear is that the "neighborhood stories" feature is done with interrupting phone calls. That seems to be their "go-to" for everything. I want ZERO phone calls. So unless they can make it happen without having other sims call my family it is not a good feature whatsoever.
I understand. I've always wanted a way to turn off the phone completely to get no calls and no texts at all. I still want to be able to do that. It's always been rather intrusive. Oddly enough, I've found that since this first installation of Neighborhood Stories, I've been getting fewer calls in general and mostly from Sims that my own Sim knows and has some sort of friendship with. I don't think that's the case for everyone, though.
I actually have gotten more phone calls. It made me stop playing the game entirely. Until there is a fix, the game is 100% UNPLAYABLE!
Now that I've updated my game, my opinions on this feature may actually be relevant. I don't mind phone calls in general because I often get a lot of emergent gameplay from them, which can sometimes translate into interesting story elements. But I didn't want Neighborhood Stories in my game at all because its core concept simply does not work well within my own creative process. Thankfully Bienchen made a mod that allows me to turn it off in its entirety, so I finally updated the game. That's just how much I do not want this feature in my game.
That said, I still think the mistake wasn't the concept itself but was releasing the feature before it felt finished. It's hard to tell if their promised future ways of giving players more control will be complete enough for everyone, and I can't help wondering if they also made a mistake in assuming that people would be ok with that.
FYI: Just because you can see my signature, don't assume that I can see yours.
Because I can't; I keep all sigs turned off.
I think there are many things they can do to improve it, like add an answering machine, add more questions like have a friend call saying they found a stray kitten or puppy and do you want to adopt it, or offer donated items like do you want this teapot I’m cleaning my kitchen, fun stuff like that, but I really like it so far.
As there’s still a mailbox, how about Sims getting the odd letter from neighbours. I don’t understand why it’s all by phone. Even an email would be a nice change.
I’ve been playing Sims 2 over the holidays and Sims automatically checked for new emails.
I’d love stray pets to be added to the choices! 😎👍.
So far the calls haven’t been spammy but this is only stage 1. What happens when it’s all Sims you have not just known neighbours 🤷🏼♂️😑.
Now that I've updated my game, my opinions on this feature may actually be relevant. I don't mind phone calls in general because I often get a lot of emergent gameplay from them, which can sometimes translate into interesting story elements. But I didn't want Neighborhood Stories in my game at all because its core concept simply does not work well within my own creative process. Thankfully Bienchen made a mod that allows me to turn it off in its entirety, so I finally updated the game. That's just how much I do not want this feature in my game.
That said, I still think the mistake wasn't the concept itself but was releasing the feature before it felt finished. It's hard to tell if their promised future ways of giving players more control will be complete enough for everyone, and I can't help wondering if they also made a mistake in assuming that people would be ok with that.
I too waited to update my game and only did it last week after I read @83bienchen created a mod to shut it completely off.
I'm always ok with more options available to players to customize their game how they want, but by releasing this WITHOUT any way to shut it off for those of us who never wanted it or would never use, is what I have an issue with because I do NOT trust the devs to ever provide that option for us even tho they stated it would be more customizable later.
I have not found it that intrusive. I am a rotational player that can sometimes rotate to several households within a single sims day and i think I may have had no more than 4 calls in 3 sims weeks.
I have also noticed some social interactions so my currently played sims can influence neighbours which I think is pretty cool.
As an aside, I have just recently bought Eco-Lifestyle and have got NAPs enabled and I am finding the two mechanics complement each other really well.
Maybe I should put this in the unpopular opinions thread
Awake.
Shake dreams from your hair
My pretty child, my sweet one.
Choose the day and choose the sign of your day
The day's divinity.... The Ghost Song - Jim Morrison
I find all the phone calls as intrusive, no matter what they are for. It may be because that is a game feature tied to too many aspects of the game. I also play one single household for multiple generations, so my families end up knowing lots of people that as of now are considered "neighbors" for the neighborhood stories. If this is just a introduction of what the game feature will include, I predict it will be much worse when fully implemented. As they usually have done, I worry it will be an "all or nothing" toggle with no in-between.
Comments
Personally, I think it sounds fun for some saves but I have no use for it in my current main save. So I just really need the toggles so I can play with it when I want, and only when I want.
For example, Mila Munch started dating the newly generated Mayor of HoB. She was also friends-with-benefits with Jacques Villareal (who was more attracted to his maid) and I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to bother taking her relationship with the mayor to the next level. She’s sort of a side character to her children. But she called Jacques about the ring in the mayor’s bag and he replied “do what you want” because neither of us really care. Then Jacques died, so I don’t know what happened with Mila. But I am already looking forward to getting back to her household to find out.
I agree that they should have released the feature with an overall toggle, though. If some players have already decided they won’t entertain these questions, they shouldn’t have to deal with them. While they are at it, they should add a toggle for the career offers that come via phone to reputable sims, because I have never once accepted those and I know I never will. I was surprised at what I am willing to respond with Neighborhood Stories, though. I would have been inclined to mark certain households safe from it if that part of the feature was already available, and then I’d be missing out on how much fun it could possibly be.
I do think it needs some tuning, though, because some of the calls don’t make sense. Like when your sim gets a call from their significant other about finding a ring in their bag. My sim got that call from their girlfriend literally a day after they started dating officially and it was weird.
https://www.theplumtreeapp.com/public/616a83a072616b1d18fb3268
- it would have been better if they had waited and released a version with a toggle to start with. The fact that they released it half finished gives the impression that they want us to test it as beta testers
- this version is trying to find a sort of middle ground for those who want the feature and those who don't want it. For those who want story progression, the phone calls are unwanted because they like this system to work on it's own without asking permission every time. For those who don't want it, it is annoying to have to ignore the messages and click no every time. While trying to please two different ways to play the game at the same time, both sides didn't get entirely what they want. Hopefully the final version will correct this.
My Mood:
I dunno...in a game where you play how you want and there's no "story" to it, the made up nonsense is just distracting and unnecessary. So for me, I hate this new system because every single character in my game is my own and all have their own lives going on that I created and am very aware of. This just adds garbage in a pile and ruins what I have going on in my world. I'm happy for those who want it, but now I don't have a game to play.
I wish EA would put out tools that the community can use to personalize their games. I'd love a world builder, to make my own whims to make a government system, to create community events, etc.
The biggest mistake was to release this feature too early with no options to turn it off. I don't want to be pessimistic and I hope the future update will give us a lot of settings for it soon. But on the other side we all know how long it could take and that not everything is like we wanted it to be.
What happens if a player deletes all the townies because we get tired of the game generating the same type and or actual clone Sims? Well, all that advice is down the drain isn't it? It's fluff and nothing more. It's what some gamers call 'busy work' when developers add things that really don't matter that much and just giving players some busy work to make them think the game has depth.
I'm not a fan of story progression and especially if TS4's is also playing my own Sims in other households and or Sims I leave in the houses even if unplayed. There are dozens of reasons players leave the premades in some of the houses so there will at least be some stability in the neighborhood and not so much culling going on, imagine if those households changed as often as they did in TS3. But from what I read not only does this story progression mess with those Sims we may place in houses (played or unplayed) and or the random townies but our own played Sims when we rotate or even while still playing them currently. That's just a mess and all willy nilly.
Maxis' reputation is faltering badly. Though the other games had bugs and some problems, TS4 is famous for being a big fat mess.
It would be a “mistake” if EA didn’t even try to implement something that has been requested by so many players.
I haven’t been able to dedicate much time to my live mode adventures so I can’t say anything about it.
Some people say the calls are too frequent, others say they are not frequent at all. What can you say?
The fact that the neighborhood stories on/off button hasn’t been added yet might just be because EA wants to learn how players react to these calls and what answers they choose. Right now it’s forced, so you have to choose, even if it’s by opting out during the phone call. I dunno. I’m just blabbering.
Personally I would prefer a toggle per save though. Neighbourhood stories would suit some of my saves, but not most.
I have many “phones don’t exist here” saves which makes me a “get that phone out of my face” kinda guy. Write it on a piece of parchment and send a messenger for crying out loud.
“A baby? Why even ask such a foolish question?! Babies are banned in my Kingdom! Off with your head! NEXT!”
Government systems are somewhat in game with NAPs, IL Environmental Manager career (setting laws etc) and CL Politics career.
I'm going to give it a try, now and see for myself. I have a saved game that I use primarily to test stuff out with, so I'm going to play that for a while and see how it goes. Hopefully, I can get back to playing my main save as well.
With NS, they are doing segments so that there will be multiple toggles (as I understand it) so that players can better customize it to their own games. This recent patch was more preliminary and I suspect, something of a minor test run. They will most likely be tweaking it as they go.
I'd recommend to keep leaving feedback regarding what we like and don't like and what works and doesn't because this is going to be a process, and not a simple one.
I understand. I've always wanted a way to turn off the phone completely to get no calls and no texts at all. I still want to be able to do that. It's always been rather intrusive. Oddly enough, I've found that since this first installation of Neighborhood Stories, I've been getting fewer calls in general and mostly from Sims that my own Sim knows and has some sort of friendship with. I don't think that's the case for everyone, though.
I actually have gotten more phone calls. It made me stop playing the game entirely. Until there is a fix, the game is 100% UNPLAYABLE!
That said, I still think the mistake wasn't the concept itself but was releasing the feature before it felt finished. It's hard to tell if their promised future ways of giving players more control will be complete enough for everyone, and I can't help wondering if they also made a mistake in assuming that people would be ok with that.
Because I can't; I keep all sigs turned off.
As there’s still a mailbox, how about Sims getting the odd letter from neighbours. I don’t understand why it’s all by phone. Even an email would be a nice change.
I’ve been playing Sims 2 over the holidays and Sims automatically checked for new emails.
I’d love stray pets to be added to the choices! 😎👍.
So far the calls haven’t been spammy but this is only stage 1. What happens when it’s all Sims you have not just known neighbours 🤷🏼♂️😑.
I too waited to update my game and only did it last week after I read @83bienchen created a mod to shut it completely off.
I'm always ok with more options available to players to customize their game how they want, but by releasing this WITHOUT any way to shut it off for those of us who never wanted it or would never use, is what I have an issue with because I do NOT trust the devs to ever provide that option for us even tho they stated it would be more customizable later.
I have also noticed some social interactions so my currently played sims can influence neighbours which I think is pretty cool.
As an aside, I have just recently bought Eco-Lifestyle and have got NAPs enabled and I am finding the two mechanics complement each other really well.
Maybe I should put this in the unpopular opinions thread
Shake dreams from your hair
My pretty child, my sweet one.
Choose the day and choose the sign of your day
The day's divinity....
The Ghost Song - Jim Morrison