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Does anyone get bored playing TS4
Sunflowergal227
Posts: 305 Member
Before you all go on the rant of it's boring then don't play it, i have taken a break and played TS2 instead.
But anyways, i've been playing the sims 4 lately, and something about it is lacking. i like the new scenarios but then after the story, there's no continuation or another scenario that one can play without starting a new game. Also played strangerville, but never completed the story-- maybe it's me and i need help completing the story but everything seems a little bland. i also don't really like how the whole neighbohood ages even if you play 1 household. i like playing with premades, although have created more families, but eh. Anyone else with me on this?
But anyways, i've been playing the sims 4 lately, and something about it is lacking. i like the new scenarios but then after the story, there's no continuation or another scenario that one can play without starting a new game. Also played strangerville, but never completed the story-- maybe it's me and i need help completing the story but everything seems a little bland. i also don't really like how the whole neighbohood ages even if you play 1 household. i like playing with premades, although have created more families, but eh. Anyone else with me on this?
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Sims 2 (All EPs/SPs)
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My Sims 3 profile page: https://mypage.thesims3.com/mypage/Sunflowergal227
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Lets make this a reality!
Yeah i agree with the sims 3, crashing and all doesn't help, at all. Rotating is somewhat hard to do. last time i played, i graduated lilith and angela from uni, all while marrying them and having a baby. in reality, i've haven't done much yet either, and maybe i need more eps/packs/sps to help move me along.
Sims 2 (All EPs/SPs)
Sims 3 Showtime
Sims 3 Generations
My Sims 3 profile page: https://mypage.thesims3.com/mypage/Sunflowergal227
You can always turn off aging for unplayed households to solve that. But yes, to your main question. I do get bored so I take a break. That's the great thing about a game, you can take a break.
I've noticed that Sims 4 seems to be more story creation oriented. I personally got bored more with 3 (which I loved playing!) But in hindsight, it was tto repetitious after awhile. As you pointed out, there are far more detailed stories that you can create in 4.
Sims 2 (All EPs/SPs)
Sims 3 Showtime
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My Sims 3 profile page: https://mypage.thesims3.com/mypage/Sunflowergal227
that i get! one can be simming for hours (with any TS game!) and not everything you planned gets done.
Sims 2 (All EPs/SPs)
Sims 3 Showtime
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My Sims 3 profile page: https://mypage.thesims3.com/mypage/Sunflowergal227
Game Options > Gameplay
Untick the "Auto Age (Unplayed Sims)
You can also select whether to have all played households auto age or just the active one. No aging is also an option for played households. Those options are found in the "Auto Age (Played Sims) drop-down box.
I've tried to look deeply at what the main "issue" is for me between the two games that makes Sims 4 seem so dull in comparison. I've found there are several, some of them have been addressed, some things changed and/or altered both for and against my personal tastes, and some things remain a problem. I'll address what I feel is, at this point, some core catalysts.
Sims 4 Sims have a tendency to autonomously behave all the same until directed by the player. And even then, they will still often gravitate to the same exact objects, default to the same exact animations, and run through the same exact emotions to the same stimuli. Some of the traits have been tweaked to cause a little more independence, but with emotions at the helm of everything, it all funnels back into moodlets and superficial buffs. In Sims 2, Sims were, first and foremost, on a sliding scale of characteristics that, by default, had them already different from each other going into the game. For example, sloppy Sims would never clean up, causing horrible messes and being fine with it while neat Sims would get stressed out from things being dirty and would autonomously clean. They would cheer if you directed them to clean something and it would lift their mood, while a sloppy Sim would look deflated and whiny if you did the same for them, and they would appear very unhappy to do it. So automatically, and with the simplest tasks, we see huge differences in behaviors that cause us to sympathize or smile or just enjoy the character of the individual Sim. We didn't need to "make it up in our heads" like we do with Sims 4; we could see it, we could influence it, and it often directed our games in unexpected ways. And this begs the question, why give them traits in the first place if, say, a computer is going to have the same pull with all Sims? Or, for that matter, if they don't recognize that they are supposed to do "evil" things if they have that Trait, or not seek socialization if they are a Loner, or eat meat if they are Vegetarian?
Another major difference is Sim to Sim interaction where, again, in Sims 4, all exchanges seem to be repetitive and have samey animations. We get a larger variety of conversation choices, but the animations and thought bubbles aren't distinctive, they're very generic, so the Sims could be discussing anything. Their Traits have little bearing on how they conduct themselves with others, and we often see them acting outside of their given characteristics on a regular basis so none of it really matters in the end. Another thing missing is sexuality. Sims have no gender preference and when they get flirty, it's with whoever is closest. They have no distinction for opposite or same sex relationships, which other games had, and no specific attractions. Again, it plays out very generic and leaves it up to the player to make choices and "direct" the Sims to their imaginary preferences. I used to love seeing signs of attraction in Sims 2, to have my Sims scan a room and tell me who they were potentially interested in. And the best thing about it was, their attraction didn't even guarantee that they would get along in the first place because they could still have opposing personality traits that clashed, which would mean the player would have to make a little more effort to get them to work out their relationship. It was engaging and often exciting while with Sims 4, it's always predictable and dull. All Sims get along in the end autonomously anyway, so there's nothing to keep the player on their toes, nothing to create drama and challenge, nothing to cause lasting bad feelings between Sims. Everyone always lives happily ever after by default when left to their own devices, and to me, that just doesn't make a good story.
On top of all that, Sims have no personal Whims or Fears or long time goals or Aspirations anymore. They have no life end game to work towards that affects them on a deep level like Sims 2 Aspirations did, while Whims have always been generic instead of personal and, rather than improved on, they were shut down altogether and remain outdated to this day. Fears have never even been a thing at all and Sims only got the ability to be emotionally afraid a year ago and that still isn't completely intuitive and needs reworking.
It frustrates me all the time because I want to love the game and I really want to be engaged and immersed. But I find myself scolding and swearing at the screen more often than not just trying to wrangle them into doing interesting things. I don't want a blank slate dollhouse that makes me do all the work and have to "use my imagination", I want independent pixel people who have minds and personalities and preferences and attitudes of their own because I created them to be that way.
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
Yeah i like the aspirations because they serve as long term goals. short term goals are good, but i feel having one long term goal helps with gameplay in the long term. What i also liked is that the long term goal may be unrelated to their goals as a family. (for instance a family aspiration may aspire to be number one in the medical field, or have 20 pet friends.
As far as the attraction- i noticed in TS4 that as you said- the mood around the sim is flirty, and it is with whoever is closest. So in essence a sim could not be attracted to anybody, yet the game is so generic it does have a sim have a one night stand if u will. all sims get along and it's bad. i recently started the sims 2 again, and i'm happy to see that pascal doesn't like general buzz, and sometimes they fight! even johnny and tank fight (tho i am able to make them friends in the end!) As far with that, tho in TS4, i played as my own alter ego, and my sim got an divorce because she was mad that her husband cheated. I directed him to flirt with her friend. but i miss when sims just did it without me knowing so much. anyways, now when i play her, she can't seem to flirt with her new beau. so hmm.
Sims 2 (All EPs/SPs)
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My Sims 3 profile page: https://mypage.thesims3.com/mypage/Sunflowergal227
Sims 4, for me, offers almost too many options what to do and how to do it, but then again it can make the stupidest design choices.
For example at the moment I'm very involved in my spellcasters' lives. Everyone has a familiar, most have chosen a wand and they are slowly warming up to the ideas of brooms. Those items have lore behind them, there's a reason why a particular sim would use a specific wand. However, the game insists on assigning the currently inactive (yet marked played) sims random wands for dueling or even none at all, and it gives broomless sims brooms. There's only so much writing around this. The first time of "Hey, Emma displaced her wand, but still defeated her opponent, you rule, girl!" and "Ui, Connor rented a broom, bet he wishes he had also taken flying classes, lolololol" is funny, but the more often it happens, the more character-breaking it gets.
So on the one hand the game appears to be geared towards the create your own drama crowd (that I'm firmly in), but on the other hand it makes things needlessly difficult for us.
Then there is my vampire that always reverts to "Always use batform" whenever I rotate to a different household, resulting in him to become extremely grating when I meet him at community lots.
Or the whole oversight with the no-privacy showers that lose their no-privacy status on off grid lots. When you use the off grid shower function (lukewarm with bad moodlet), they are non-privacy, only when you save up energy and use the on-grid function do they become no-privacy again. This isn't story/customisation related, it's not even a real bug, but just an example of so many annoyances.
But... I have also played it since 2014, I don't think there is anything wrong with being bored with a game, instead of asking yourself if you are doing something wrong...think back on how much fun you had with it instead and play it casually instead or play other games.
That's what has happened with all my other older games, I don't see why The Sims 4 should be any different just because it's a sandbox game.
There are ways that you can make a sandbox game fun, like all the things listed here in this thread: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/959581/1000-fun-things-to-do-in-sims-4/p1 but I don't think you should force yourself to play it, especially not if you are looking for variety and gameplay. Give other games a chance instead.
YESSSS This is how you have to play it or you will be bored. I have craziness in my game as well. Mods help bring it to another level too LOL
I want to love TS4, I really do .... but I just can't handle the whole "imagine it in your head" story telling and directing your sim to play out this story you had in your head. It literally is like playing with barbies or a doll house to me.
I have always preferred to let my sims "live their life" without much input from me, and to just watch and laugh at their antics unless they're doing something ridiculous. I assign traits for a reason ..... to make each sim unique and individual, but traits in TS4 DO NOT MATTER!
With TS4, I have an idea, open the game, start a new save and then just sit there because I am bored with what to do next.
I never, ever had that in TS2, which I played a lot more than TS3.
I loved TS3 because of the open world and watching the sims around my sims house go about their lives. I loved that sims would autonomously just go out and about in the world and visit community lots without me directing them to, such as the community pool. TS3 also had soooooo many different activities and lots.
But ultimately TS2 was the game that I played most because I loved so much about it .... running a business was the best to me, loved having a business lot on my home lot, building apartments were the best, etc., Loved the mundane things of shopping in a store, doing yard work, etc.
With TS4, I can't even get into building because there's so many restrictions in the world. Can't delete this, can't add that, have to conform to the style of the world only. It is super immersion breaking to want to have, let's say an ultra modern world, but all of the fake buildings and backdrop around the world are in a totally different style and just looks D.U.M.B
So yeah, I get bored .... a LOT, even though I try my hardest not to.
I do really wish I could play the Sims 2 games again once in a while.
Actually, there is one thing in the game that bores me. Babies. It's not for too long that I can keep giving the crying objects a bottle or diaper change. They last only like 2 bottle feedings in my game and then become toddlers, which can never bore me because they are too cute.
Have found a way to make a TS2 style album out of game, so focus on screenshots and storytelling via lengthy captions to said shots.
Take a break as suggested above. For me that means: classes as I've gone back to college, reading (other than for classes), model ship building, playing a different game - sometimes one that isn't on a computer. (Remember those?)
I find TS4 has a much better interface than any previous game, my game never crashes like TS3 did, the sims look better and you can customise them a lot more than TS1 & 2, building is a real treat and the tools are great... BUT
I do think there is less autonomy/variation in outcomes than previous versions of the game which can make it feel boring if you don't vary your play style from time to time.
One of my absolute favourite things to do is to build a haunted house with a spellcaster sim and turn him/her into a voodoo master. The paranormal stuff pack keeps you busy fighting ghosties while you train up your spellcasting skills and become a master of mischief. You can create some pretty fun situations and make other sims do your bidding.
I'm also trying to make my farmer sims into millionaires through pumpkin sales but it's not going so well
The other fun thing is starting your own business like a restaurant or bakery. That will keep you busy/ frustrated for days
I was thinking about the following animations to get more variety:
Soc_Friendly_NT_Compliment_Success_Basic
Soc_Friendly_NT_DiscussTopic_Success_Basic
Soc_Friendly_NT_EnthuseAbout_Success_Basic
Soc_Friendly_NT_Debate_success_Basic
Soc_Generic_NT_Complain_Succeed_basic
I'd happily spend 5 bucks on a kit offering just this and nothing on the side (honestly even more if it needed more budget than 1 kit).
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On a totally unrelated note, could we please get the two rock climbing walls that aren't snow covered in debug mode. They so allow for some great venues (e.g. on the Windenburgh Island) that could be shared via the Gallery If they we're in debug. I freed them by a mod so I know for sure. It's Just a few clicks so pretty pretty please.
Climbing ist such an awesome feature, it should not be restricted to the Snowy Escape world. If you don't want to free them, maybe just add some to future worlds as a little extra for future worlds. They could be purely decorative for those who don't own Snowy Escape.
Sims 4 is about the only computer game that I don't tend to get bored with. I've tried a lot of other games, and some I've liked, but none have held my interest for as long or as intensely as Sims 4. I am very much a "make up stories in my head" player. And Sims 4 is the computer game that comes the closest to letting me play the way I like.
But I do use mods. So take that as you will. Most of my mods either block something that annoys me, or give me control over something the game doesn't let me control. And without them, I do find the game somewhat boring, because it's hard to carry out my own creative vision. So I can't play in the way that is fun for me.
I don't really have any mods that add additional gameplay, though. I just genuinely want more of a "creative studio" or "box of toys" experience, rather than a game. And since game making companies in general don't tend to cater to players like me, mods are how I get what I want.