The Base Game has some major jank. They need to get rid of the autonomous water drinking, they need to get rid of autonomous "Check Toddler" (or at least get the thing tuned so it never springs when autonomy is off...because, have I mentioned, "Check Toddler" still triggers autonomously when autonomy is off...?), they need to fix that bug that causes sim character models to freak out when playing with a Toddler (yeah, that's still a thing), they need to fix a lot of stuff.
Also, after the Base Game, they need to fix "Dine Out" (which has never worked right), and go down the line of DLC, most broken to least broken...and for the love of Diana, fix the female werewolf body issue! The people who want gender-neutral werewolf forms for their werewolves can un-link their sims' human and beast forms to achieve the look they want on female werewolves if they don't want curves or breasts, but those of us who actually want female werewolves to keep a feminine body shape shouldn't have to go to the trouble of modding our game to have a basic customization feature that should have been part of it all along. If I can suck it up and narrow the hips and broaden the waist of a male sim that I've given a feminine frame to for the express purpose of giving him softer facial features and longer lashes, people who don't like breasts or curves on female werewolves can click the unlink button to narrow hips, broaden waists, and flatten chests to their liking as well...But I digress.
What good is fixing the roof of a house if the foundation is rotting away? Fix the foundation of the game, the base game, so when you add pack integration and proceed to add new packs, things would feel flushed out and less things will break.
Obviously, the bugs need to be fixed first, but if we're talking about after that, then they need to move away from the parasitic design that they've been cranking out for years and instead make sure that the game works holistically. A tiny thing that drives me nuts...I have Bust the Dust (yes I like mundane things like vacuums), and for whatever reason, the maid who comes to my house doesn't use a vacuum. They clean the toilet, they pick up books and plates, but vacuums? Nah. Why? Because the kit wasn't built to interact with the Base Game...or anything else.
Just have someone sit down and figure out how a new pack or kit would impact other packs or kits. Heck, if they want, I'll do it. I'll make flow charts and everything. Just buy me coffee and give me an air conditioned room to sit in.
Heck, someone should take you up on that. It desperately needs to be done. If you could fix it, they should even have you replace the ones who are not doing it.
I just wish there would be more consistency. For example, Island Living should then allow you to swim in any given body of water, including rivers and lakes, and I think that with the pets pack, it then shouldn't only be Brindleton Bay that has strays because it's weird and makes it seem like everyone's just abandoning their animals in that world, which is really messed up. I guess what I'm saying is that when you bring in a new pack, whatever comes with it shouldn't only exist in the world that it comes with, unless it's something like Strangerville or Batuu that's very story based, so like magic users should automatically spawn and exist outside of Glimmerbrook, you know?
All packs should get attention. The severity of bugs is more important than the pack type.
But pack integration is also important. Especially in base game updates there should be attention for packs. One of the main criticisms on whims was that packs after seasons were not supported. Now they are replaced with wants with only one (1!) DLC supported. The likes and dislikes still miss skills from several packs like archeology and fabrication. Lifestyles was also a one time addition with integration for snowy escape and nothing else.
My first choice: I say, fix the foundation first. Until the base game is fixed and improved, the remainder will just crumble under its own weight.
Someone made the decision, relatively early on, to switch to a 64-bit format. That decision probably saved TS4 from TS3's degrading fate. Nevertheless, the foundation of TS4 is still a hot mess. It just doesn't have the framework of a Sim game, because the simulation is missing. Sims talk, walk, eat, poop, and find the object in the room that advertises the loudest. Without intervention by the player, that's all there is, and it's not going to change. It can't change without totally ripping apart the code and starting over again. Needless to say, that's not going to happen.
My second choice: provide better pack integration. However, there doesn't seem to be much interest in doing that. Only God and the decision-makers at EA know the reason why. I can only speculate that there's no reason to do so, as the packs will continue to sell, perfectly well, without any additional effort. So why bother?
I picked overall pack integration like many other people. My biggest concern is the lack of content included in packs and expansions. Re-releasing Spa Day was a good start (in my opinion) to what needs to be done to add more content. Not very many people are going to argue that TS2 and TS3 didn't have more value for the money when it came to expansions to the base game. Oh, and the "Kits" are really not even worth bothering with, in my opinion, because they have so little content. They probably should have just been added into the game for free.
I haven't played since before High School Years came out because of all of the new problems that are being described out of fear that my game saves will become corrupted. All of the older bugs really need to be fixed like other people are saying, as well.
1. Story progression I wish they fixed the story progression of townies. All of this waiting for story progression just for them to make it bad. Why townies cannot get married? If you play a lot on single save you gonna end up with a whole world of single/adopted sims with weird family tree. Besides that - what we already have seems so unnatural. Townies are making/adopting babies like crazy even tho they don't have the space to live with that many sims. Playing with ''die in accidents'' is basically impossible - they die A LOT and your sims are 24/7 mourning because of that. The story progression just feels shallow and random, unlinke what we had in ts3. I wish townies could make money and go to work. I wish they could improve their skills, make friends, enemies etc. I hate it when I'm adding a townie to my family and they have like level 0 at work, no friends and 0 skills even tho they are adults/seniors.
2. Aging I still cannot understand why we cannot customize aging like we did in ts3? Medium is too short but long is too long for kids-teenagers.
Think I forgot to comment when I voted but I chose game packs, I love Dine Out and I'm so tired of having to rely on mods to have it simply function. Plus not everyone can use mods, console players deserve to be able to enjoy it too!
To turn off the Needs/wants thought bubbles above my players menu self w/o it turning back on by itself, yet the game insists it turns back on every time I quit the game for the night and start back the next day. How do the dev's not see this? Do they ever really PLAY the game?
To turn off the Needs/wants thought bubbles above my players menu self w/o it turning back on by itself, yet the game insists it turns back on every time I quit the game for the night and start back the next day. How do the dev's not see this? Do they ever really PLAY the game?
My guess would be NOPE! I'm sure the only time they actually have the game loaded is when they are test things they're creating (with only the basegame) and never look at anything else. I've thought that many, many times! There is no way on this green earth that the devs would not find some of these bugs if they were actually playing the game, not just "testing a feature".
Chances are,they have seen the game so much, they would get bored playing it. If I would build a game, it would have to be darn good if I was going to play something I know everything about.
As many have said, the foundation (ie the base game) needs to be fixed to give a more stable base for all the add-ons. What needs to be fixed in base game? Let's see, Autonomous drinking of water, juice, milk, etc. Gardening bugs. Having to wait for someone on the OTHER SIDE OF THE LOT WHOM I HAVEN'T EVEN MET to walk over to where I am standing to join my conversation before I can cancel them even though I don't want to talk to them - especially when I'm on a timed date. Autonomous mischief social when I've chosen mischief as a dislike. Toddlers walking to the nearest coffee table (even if it's on the other side of the house) to put their plate down when the dining table has clear spaces. Toddlers on a caffeine high with the jitter-walk. Routing failures with people getting stuck in bathrooms. Routing failures where there are no obstacles.
So many more, but I haven't played much lately due to the fun being sucked out of the game so I can't remember them all.
Chances are,they have seen the game so much, they would get bored playing it. If I would build a game, it would have to be darn good if I was going to play something I know everything about.
Actually, that would help the testing process. Ages ago I made game modules for Neverwinter Nights, and would play them through, testing everything possible. Having made the module, I knew that when the sim got to scene X action Z was supposed to happen in a certain way. If it didn't happen or there was something unplanned, I knew there was a problem to go back and fix. Same thing here. They need to play it, fully loaded, and see what happens. If they don't play the same game configuration we do they won't know our experience, face our issues, or understand our frustrations with a thoroughly broken product.
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Also, after the Base Game, they need to fix "Dine Out" (which has never worked right), and go down the line of DLC, most broken to least broken...and for the love of Diana, fix the female werewolf body issue! The people who want gender-neutral werewolf forms for their werewolves can un-link their sims' human and beast forms to achieve the look they want on female werewolves if they don't want curves or breasts, but those of us who actually want female werewolves to keep a feminine body shape shouldn't have to go to the trouble of modding our game to have a basic customization feature that should have been part of it all along. If I can suck it up and narrow the hips and broaden the waist of a male sim that I've given a feminine frame to for the express purpose of giving him softer facial features and longer lashes, people who don't like breasts or curves on female werewolves can click the unlink button to narrow hips, broaden waists, and flatten chests to their liking as well...But I digress.
Yeah, this game needs some work done.
Huh. I guess to turn off fame, I have to step into the spotlight, and then step back out. Super annoying, tho.
Heck, someone should take you up on that. It desperately needs to be done. If you could fix it, they should even have you replace the ones who are not doing it.
But pack integration is also important. Especially in base game updates there should be attention for packs. One of the main criticisms on whims was that packs after seasons were not supported. Now they are replaced with wants with only one (1!) DLC supported. The likes and dislikes still miss skills from several packs like archeology and fabrication. Lifestyles was also a one time addition with integration for snowy escape and nothing else.
Someone made the decision, relatively early on, to switch to a 64-bit format. That decision probably saved TS4 from TS3's degrading fate. Nevertheless, the foundation of TS4 is still a hot mess. It just doesn't have the framework of a Sim game, because the simulation is missing. Sims talk, walk, eat, poop, and find the object in the room that advertises the loudest. Without intervention by the player, that's all there is, and it's not going to change. It can't change without totally ripping apart the code and starting over again. Needless to say, that's not going to happen.
My second choice: provide better pack integration. However, there doesn't seem to be much interest in doing that. Only God and the decision-makers at EA know the reason why. I can only speculate that there's no reason to do so, as the packs will continue to sell, perfectly well, without any additional effort. So why bother?
I haven't played since before High School Years came out because of all of the new problems that are being described out of fear that my game saves will become corrupted. All of the older bugs really need to be fixed like other people are saying, as well.
I wish they fixed the story progression of townies. All of this waiting for story progression just for them to make it bad.
Why townies cannot get married? If you play a lot on single save you gonna end up with a whole world of single/adopted sims with weird family tree. Besides that - what we already have seems so unnatural. Townies are making/adopting babies like crazy even tho they don't have the space to live with that many sims. Playing with ''die in accidents'' is basically impossible - they die A LOT and your sims are 24/7 mourning because of that. The story progression just feels shallow and random, unlinke what we had in ts3.
I wish townies could make money and go to work. I wish they could improve their skills, make friends, enemies etc. I hate it when I'm adding a townie to my family and they have like level 0 at work, no friends and 0 skills even tho they are adults/seniors.
2. Aging
I still cannot understand why we cannot customize aging like we did in ts3? Medium is too short but long is too long for kids-teenagers.
My guess would be NOPE! I'm sure the only time they actually have the game loaded is when they are test things they're creating (with only the basegame) and never look at anything else. I've thought that many, many times! There is no way on this green earth that the devs would not find some of these bugs if they were actually playing the game, not just "testing a feature".
I don't think there are many parts of this game left for them to break now anyway.
So many more, but I haven't played much lately due to the fun being sucked out of the game so I can't remember them all.
Just release The Sims 5, please.
Actually, that would help the testing process. Ages ago I made game modules for Neverwinter Nights, and would play them through, testing everything possible. Having made the module, I knew that when the sim got to scene X action Z was supposed to happen in a certain way. If it didn't happen or there was something unplanned, I knew there was a problem to go back and fix. Same thing here. They need to play it, fully loaded, and see what happens. If they don't play the same game configuration we do they won't know our experience, face our issues, or understand our frustrations with a thoroughly broken product.
How am I supposed to pick just one?
There should have been an "everything, every little stinking thing broken with this game" option. LOL.