This probably tells you what format Sims 4 is headed for. On this forum people rountinely ask for karoke machines , djs , singers , open theatre , and , yes , some want online aspects. And , EA is giving it to us. Yet , almost nobody is happy. Hmm , curious. I , for one , am kinda curious and excited about this EP.
As additions, yes, they do frequently ask for these things. As the content of an entire EP it's very wafer thin. I want an air hockey table. If they released an EP called "Air Hockey Table" for which the air hockey table was the notable feature then I would still be disappointed as this would be very light on content for a full EP. Many, myself included, feels as though Showtime is similarly adding very little, and feels like little more than a minor massage of what came before than a true expansion with new gameplay.
**Copied and pasted from another thread, as we now have a proper Showtime forum in which to post it**
Granted, all of the below is based upon what has been revealed in the now released trailer and screenshots and not the finished product. Still, here we go: unfortunately I still don't see a lot of variation on gameplay, there; just more click and watch. World Adventures and Ambitions, in spite of what faults they may have had (I hated Ambitions, as an example, while other loved it), did something different with the standard gameplay. This just seems to be resting on that which came before. Here are items, click on them, watch the animations unfold, no further involvement from the player required. As a theme, Reni and I still don't care for it, but new gameplay would have changed our minds on that score as presentation quite often trumps all else.
On a technical note, I worry about just how much of what is seen in those images is accurate. Bars and clubs are fairly notorious for never growing especially full; and yet here we are expected to believe large audiences are possible. I'm just not sure that will be the case, here, and that what we are seeing is anything more than some very clever move_objects, Testingcheatsenabled, developer code enabled trickery of the sort that has been used time and again before. I understand WHY they use those techniques, of course: "people doing stuff" tends to make the development of exciting trailers a little tricky. That said, it does make me view any trailer or screen with an eye of suspicion under the circumstances. My hope here is that they have ported over the City Hall protest behaviour to these venues (something that should have been done for bands in Late Night) to allow for groups of Sims acting behaving in a similar fashion for an extended period.
Still, it's the first paragraph that is key, here. I look at the trailer, and I don't see any variation on gameplay. Just the same old thing being attached to different items. Think of it like a shooter: you have a gun, run about killing your enemies. Along comes an expansion with a new area, new enemies, new weapons, only to find that the new areas are just different coloured corridors from what has been used before, the new weapons are just machine guns with a different model and the new enemies are exactly the same as the old enemies only with different coloured skin, weapons that behave in the same manner as before, behaviour that is unchanged from any other enemy. Most would, and have when this has occurred, cried foul as one would expect. The same here for Reni and I: this is an expansion... expand! Even those Sims 1 and Sims 2 expansions post House Party that we didn't find exceptional still managed to do something different, and we could appreciate that. So far, though, I'm just not seeing 'different' from the gameplay that has been displayed and only the visual representation thereof.
I love the idea of performance careers (yay for Sims finally being able to sing again ).
I'm sad that this is not Seasons .
I'm worried about the news feed :?: (I'll probably turn it off).
The kind of social aspect I've always wanted is the ability to play the same town or house over a LAN with multiple people at the same time. My siblings all play the Sims and it would be perfect if we could all play at the same time (I guess it's still too hard because of time synchronization and stuff like that... :? ).
EA are really doing a Brilliant job! A brilliant job winding me up that is! In my eyes,this is just exactly the same as Late Night! What do they think their doing! Seriously.When is the relese date anyway? i might buy it,im just upset they arnt bringing out seasons <3x
Yes, the social network aspect *is* optional...in a way.
From Sims VIP press release, page 2:
Be Connected: Make new friends, connect, and share your stories and experiences without ever leaving the game. Using the new individual in-game news feeds and live updates, post your Sims’ successes, share gameplay techniques, create wishlists and gifts, search for new friends and share memories.
New Achievement System: Earn rewards for achieving goals and accomplishing special challenges that can be tracked and shared via in-game social wall posts. New achievements will be introduced on a regular basis.
It's optional, it's Facebook plus Simport (they don't have to say it, we know that's what this is)... but from the looks of it, if you opt out of the social network aspect, you get penalized in the form of missing gameplay and not being able to take part in the New Achievement System.
Now how is that optional again, EA?
EA Marketing Department Motto:
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally) I Took The Pledge!
I love the idea of going on tours (certainly going to do a monster ball tour ) but will they expand the acting career. Such as doing plays, theaters, musicals etc?
Somehow I think they will include the social aspect with the remaining EPs of the TS3 series. So, skipping this EP just because of the social stuff might mean no more EPs. I don't know for sure, but some major EP features are often included with later EPs.
I wanted Seasons, not some social networking expansion of Late Night. What made the creators even think we wanted social networking?...
I knew that Sims Social nonsense was headed somewhere bad.... :roll: It would have been better if they had just made Showtime a standalone! :x That way Facebook could troll around in it as much as it wanted, and no one would be saying stuff like "I've never compained; never NOT bought an EP; I'm so disappointed", I mean--REALLY, EA!?
It had better be 100% optional, that's all I have to say. :evil: Cuz if I patch my game after this comes out and see some Facebook nonsense in my game I'm gonna be PI&&ED!
I doubt they'll unroute all of the oceans/lakes, but it would be cool if they did!
No, it would be GENIUS if they did! :thumbup: So that we could have real beaches, sailing with glamorous yachts and dinky fishing boats, surfing, sharks in the water... :twisted: Then again, EA's not known for genius when it comes to TS3...good ideas: yes...but not genius ones.... :roll:
I love the idea of going on tours (certainly going to do a monster ball tour ) but will they expand the acting career. Such as doing plays, theaters, musicals etc?
So, I take it you're comfortable with the idea of sending your Sim on tour to another player's computer? And you're comfortable with the idea of having another player's sim downloaded into your computer?
EA Marketing Department Motto:
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally) I Took The Pledge!
Meh If the social aspects aren't optional and if you need to do them to get achievements or items I don't think I'll be buying this EP. I'm not interested in having facebook in my sims, it's a single person game for a reason.
I love the idea of going on tours (certainly going to do a monster ball tour ) but will they expand the acting career. Such as doing plays, theaters, musicals etc?
So, I take it you're comfortable with the idea of sending your Sim on tour to another player's computer? And you're comfortable with the idea of having another player's sim downloaded into your computer?
Plus it's worse than rabbit-holes. We don't even get to go with our Sims on tour. So not only are we opening up our computers to things we don't want, but we don't even really get anything in return.
Stop creating the same threads over and over again. IT'S NOT AN ONLINE GAME!!! How do you imagine playing it online without having an Internet? You're funny. Sorry for my rude tone, but I already got tired from people who complaint a lot and create threads of complaints over and over again...
If you don't like the idea, don't buy it, don't comment and don't create negative threads. Personally, I love everything about it, including, online features, so instead of asking to remove that function be happy that you're getting at least something. I didn't enjoy 'Generations' idea at all, but I didn't complain about it. Why? Because there are many people who like it...
What is more, only your friends will be able to visit your game. Also, it will asks if you want to share your game with someone or not. As I already said, it's not an online game...
Somehow I think they will include the social aspect with the remaining EPs of the TS3 series. So, skipping this EP just because of the social stuff might mean no more EPs. I don't know for sure, but some major EP features are often included with later EPs.
I'm afraid this will be the case... I truly hope I'm wrong, though!
I've been extra careful not to link any of my online accounts to others, and what EA is planning to do seems to go even further than just linking.
I hope EA is not planning to go as far as to force Facebook on us (like Spotify is trying to do) in the future. I really do.
Yes, the social network aspect *is* optional...in a way.
From Sims VIP press release, page 2:
Be Connected: Make new friends, connect, and share your stories and experiences without ever leaving the game. Using the new individual in-game news feeds and live updates, post your Sims’ successes, share gameplay techniques, create wishlists and gifts, search for new friends and share memories.
New Achievement System: Earn rewards for achieving goals and accomplishing special challenges that can be tracked and shared via in-game social wall posts. New achievements will be introduced on a regular basis.
It's optional, it's Facebook plus Simport (they don't have to say it, we know that's what this is)... but from the looks of it, if you opt out of the social network aspect, you get penalized in the form of missing gameplay and not being able to take part in the New Achievement System.
Now how is that optional again, EA?
This game has gotten Way too complicated IMO. They're adding something new, though "optional" but who's to say it will even Work (without being glitched or needing a mod to fix it).
I'm looking foward to sims 4 in hopes of starting off with some simplicity, and trying to keep it that way.
This will probably be like my E mail box, some more added junk I don't want , along with the million tabs on the side, facebook, twitter, and 20 other options. Sorry, I'm a little cynical.
Comments
As additions, yes, they do frequently ask for these things. As the content of an entire EP it's very wafer thin. I want an air hockey table. If they released an EP called "Air Hockey Table" for which the air hockey table was the notable feature then I would still be disappointed as this would be very light on content for a full EP. Many, myself included, feels as though Showtime is similarly adding very little, and feels like little more than a minor massage of what came before than a true expansion with new gameplay.
So...
I think that Showtime it's okay!
But... About the... Social thingy...
NO WAYYYYYYYYYYYY!
or optional lmao xD
bye guys xD
Granted, all of the below is based upon what has been revealed in the now released trailer and screenshots and not the finished product. Still, here we go: unfortunately I still don't see a lot of variation on gameplay, there; just more click and watch. World Adventures and Ambitions, in spite of what faults they may have had (I hated Ambitions, as an example, while other loved it), did something different with the standard gameplay. This just seems to be resting on that which came before. Here are items, click on them, watch the animations unfold, no further involvement from the player required. As a theme, Reni and I still don't care for it, but new gameplay would have changed our minds on that score as presentation quite often trumps all else.
On a technical note, I worry about just how much of what is seen in those images is accurate. Bars and clubs are fairly notorious for never growing especially full; and yet here we are expected to believe large audiences are possible. I'm just not sure that will be the case, here, and that what we are seeing is anything more than some very clever move_objects, Testingcheatsenabled, developer code enabled trickery of the sort that has been used time and again before. I understand WHY they use those techniques, of course: "people doing stuff" tends to make the development of exciting trailers a little tricky. That said, it does make me view any trailer or screen with an eye of suspicion under the circumstances. My hope here is that they have ported over the City Hall protest behaviour to these venues (something that should have been done for bands in Late Night) to allow for groups of Sims acting behaving in a similar fashion for an extended period.
Still, it's the first paragraph that is key, here. I look at the trailer, and I don't see any variation on gameplay. Just the same old thing being attached to different items. Think of it like a shooter: you have a gun, run about killing your enemies. Along comes an expansion with a new area, new enemies, new weapons, only to find that the new areas are just different coloured corridors from what has been used before, the new weapons are just machine guns with a different model and the new enemies are exactly the same as the old enemies only with different coloured skin, weapons that behave in the same manner as before, behaviour that is unchanged from any other enemy. Most would, and have when this has occurred, cried foul as one would expect. The same here for Reni and I: this is an expansion... expand! Even those Sims 1 and Sims 2 expansions post House Party that we didn't find exceptional still managed to do something different, and we could appreciate that. So far, though, I'm just not seeing 'different' from the gameplay that has been displayed and only the visual representation thereof.
- Hans
I'm sad that this is not Seasons
I'm worried about the news feed
The kind of social aspect I've always wanted is the ability to play the same town or house over a LAN with multiple people at the same time. My siblings all play the Sims and it would be perfect if we could all play at the same time (I guess it's still too hard because of time synchronization and stuff like that... :? ).
From Sims VIP press release, page 2:
Be Connected: Make new friends, connect, and share your stories and experiences without ever leaving the game. Using the new individual in-game news feeds and live updates, post your Sims’ successes, share gameplay techniques, create wishlists and gifts, search for new friends and share memories.
New Achievement System: Earn rewards for achieving goals and accomplishing special challenges that can be tracked and shared via in-game social wall posts. New achievements will be introduced on a regular basis.
It's optional, it's Facebook plus Simport (they don't have to say it, we know that's what this is)... but from the looks of it, if you opt out of the social network aspect, you get penalized in the form of missing gameplay and not being able to take part in the New Achievement System.
Now how is that optional again, EA?
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally)
I Took The Pledge!
I doubt they'll unroute all of the oceans/lakes, but it would be cool if they did!
I knew that Sims Social nonsense was headed somewhere bad.... :roll: It would have been better if they had just made Showtime a standalone! :x That way Facebook could troll around in it as much as it wanted, and no one would be saying stuff like "I've never compained; never NOT bought an EP; I'm so disappointed", I mean--REALLY, EA!?
It had better be 100% optional, that's all I have to say. :evil: Cuz if I patch my game after this comes out and see some Facebook nonsense in my game I'm gonna be PI&&ED!
No, it would be GENIUS if they did! :thumbup: So that we could have real beaches, sailing with glamorous yachts and dinky fishing boats, surfing, sharks in the water... :twisted: Then again, EA's not known for genius when it comes to TS3...good ideas: yes...but not genius ones.... :roll:
So, I take it you're comfortable with the idea of sending your Sim on tour to another player's computer? And you're comfortable with the idea of having another player's sim downloaded into your computer?
"We Don't Care If You LIKE The Game, Just As Long As You BUY The Game!"
I Disapprove (Naturally)
I Took The Pledge!
Plus it's worse than rabbit-holes. We don't even get to go with our Sims on tour. So not only are we opening up our computers to things we don't want, but we don't even really get anything in return.
If you don't like the idea, don't buy it, don't comment and don't create negative threads. Personally, I love everything about it, including, online features, so instead of asking to remove that function be happy that you're getting at least something. I didn't enjoy 'Generations' idea at all, but I didn't complain about it. Why? Because there are many people who like it...
What is more, only your friends will be able to visit your game. Also, it will asks if you want to share your game with someone or not. As I already said, it's not an online game...
Sorry for my tone again.
I'm afraid this will be the case... I truly hope I'm wrong, though!
I've been extra careful not to link any of my online accounts to others, and what EA is planning to do seems to go even further than just linking.
I hope EA is not planning to go as far as to force Facebook on us (like Spotify is trying to do) in the future. I really do.
This game has gotten Way too complicated IMO. They're adding something new, though "optional" but who's to say it will even Work (without being glitched or needing a mod to fix it).
I'm looking foward to sims 4 in hopes of starting off with some simplicity, and trying to keep it that way.
This will probably be like my E mail box, some more added junk I don't want , along with the million tabs on the side, facebook, twitter, and 20 other options. Sorry, I'm a little cynical.