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Those who get consistent enjoyment out of the game, what is your playstyle like?
Triplis
Posts: 3,048 Member
Just kinda curious. I've always had mixed feelings about the game, but it seems like there are quite a lot of people who thoroughly enjoy it, despite those who don't and I'm wondering about what kind of ways you play the game, if so.
Or if you partially enjoy it, it'd be interesting to hear what aspects of it are enjoyable to you.
Particularly as it relates to live mode, I'm wondering what works for some people.
Or if you partially enjoy it, it'd be interesting to hear what aspects of it are enjoyable to you.
Particularly as it relates to live mode, I'm wondering what works for some people.
Mods moved from MTS, now hosted at: https://triplis.github.io
4
Comments
1. Single Sim dating
2. Married Sims with no kids
3. Married Sims with a baby and toddler
4. Married Sims with a toddler and child
5. Married Sims with a child and teen
I enjoy CAS; so, 99% of the Sims in my game have been created. I typically delete townies unless something about their look appeals to me. Right now I'm playing a Single Sim dating as she Journey's to Batuu from time to time. So, that is what works for me. Happy Simming!
I find the game a way to relax after a hard day at work, so I just explore and do stuff and just enjoy the limited time I have to play games.
(She/her)
I got one game save with about 50 sims atm and I play them according to their character, I basically have a sim for everything to play whatever I feel like, when I feel like it, while still staying true to the sims character.
So I play pretty much every feature of the game, in almost every kind of way.
I know there are players who like to do everything with the same sim/household but that would bore me and go against being true to character.
Also worldbuilding plays a big part for me, I love to create all played sims, their homes and any other lots myself, it just makes me enjoy playing more if the sims I play and the enviroment are self-created.
A good example is the Magic HQ, when I still just had the original HQ I didn't enjoy visiting it or playing there, it's just such a boring, empty prebuild to me...after I made my own MHQ I love sending my witches and wizards there to train and hang out.
Variety and creativity are what keep me interested/entertained.
I find a sim that I like and then I try to do everything there is to do with them and learn more about them
they want to do more things as they learn and keeping whims on helps
I love gallery house hunting. I love the art style. I LOVE my sims (maybe a bit too much)
I love the worlds.
Since you mentioned live mode in particular I am a part time live mode player. As a story teller I like to spend a lot of time with poseplayer taking screen shots and imagining how the story is playing out. But when I do play live mode I have just as much fun.
(Sure I have frustrations, annoyances and would love for many things to be improved) but I really have a lot of fun with what we have right now. I love watching sims do things. I use a mod to slow down time and slow eating time too. I love watching them do mundane boring things.😅
I play rotational as if it's a movie with main, side and supporting characters. I only play one save since 2014 and the same sims I never age. I almost never play careers or go to university. And I almost never have romance
I love playing apocalyptic storylines and have sims fighting for survival and living off little while making and selling things.
I love setting up movie night by a cozy fireplace and family dinners.
And when I'm bored of that I jump to the rich celebrity household and do modeling,photography, attending parties etc
With dance mods I put together a dance group and put my own music on the radio and have competitions.
And when In bored of that I jump to occults and have some creepy witch ritual going on in the forest of granite falls. Or aliens trying to hide out among humans which running from pursuit.
I play in clubs and currently I'm playing in batuu having light saber fights in the first order with three vampire brothers 😁😁😁
It's always fresh and exciting because the possible storylines you can come up with is endless. (In my mind at least) and a new story is always brewing.
Btw are you triplis the modder?👀
If you are I currently have your mods lol.
My play style is:
Live Mode 99% of the time. I don't build (yay for the gallery) but I spend a few minutes in CAS once in awhile.
I play stories, my sims are based on characters I've written more or less, and I use the sims to bring those stories to life, and then continue them on. Once in awhile I enjoy doing the odd 100 baby challenge style too though
I play with lots of kids/tots/babies. All large families
For the most part I play in sulani and do the conservationist career a lot. I do love the jungle pack too.
I play some careers but most my sims are work from home parents
I don't use any cc but in some saves I use mods to make the life spans longer or to let my sims run a foster home (other saves I play vanilla)
I play slow... meaning I've played the same family for almost 4 years now and founding sims are still alive, though a few just became elders, and the first grandkids were recently born
I use cheat codes a lot so that my sims needs are always filled so that I can play stories instead of grinding needs
I do't play anything supernatural, just human sims (not even pets haha)
I choose good traits only, keep the sims always happy, no enemies, no fights, no drama.
They like to go on adventures, craft stuff, write stuff, etc.
My save is currently focusing on one household. It’s kind of a fantasy/history save. It started with one Sim who lives in a forest off the grid. Every day she has to go out to find food and supplies via fishing, digging, and harvesting. All of the things she finds acts as different forms of currency/resource/supply that you might find translated into a civilization/city building game. For example: treasure maps represent cloth/paper. Which means I can only buy things from buy mode that would be made of cloth or paper. Similarly, dug up fossils represent stones that might be used for building structures. Fruit that’s harvested from trees, and objects made from the woodworking table supply wood. In order for me to buy things from build/buy, I need to have enough of the appropriate resources to equate to whatever their b/b object is. For example, in order to “build” (buy) the woodworking bench, she needed to have enough lemons for the purchase (lemons because they grow on trees —wood source; and because they’re the fruit that’s currently in season and available natively in the world of Windenburg). As another example, in order for her to buy a tent, she needed to have enough treasure maps to equal the cost of the tent.
Once she could afford the tent, she also unlocked a new household member (based on some civ/city building rules of if you have enough housing, your town will grow). They’re in the third week of spring and only just now have been able to build three walls of a potential housing structure.
Another rule I made up is the handiness skill determines what can be built and bought from b/b. The woodworking table is an exception because it’s an essential tool for gaining handiness. But as another example, walls can be built for structures at handiness level 2, but things like plumbing and multiple floors will have to come at higher skill levels. My Sims currently bathe via a swimming pool that I tried to make look like a pond.
I made up another rule that in order to travel, Sims have to travel in groups (at least until their civilization grows enough and they make contact with another civilization). So for example, my Sim and her new household member traveled together to Selvadorada to find an antidote to cure her of poison.
It’s kind of a rags to riches only in the sense of how any civilization building game’s goal is to grow your civilization. Eventually, it will grow from just this one household to one civilization which I’m designating as one world or maybe part of one world. I will go into different worlds and start new civilizations and they will eventually have sustaining economies based on the resources provided by their native worlds. They will trade with other civilizations though and they’ll have different cultures and customs so that I have different kinds of worldbuilding. For example, the current civilization keep their houses off the grid so they will look to building community lots to make up for the lack of electricity and running water (I’m very excited to build the public bathhouse when the population grows enough). Another civilization will be based in San Myshuno and will be more like contemporary mages. So that’s basically what I’m doing. I’m having so much fun and it’s kept my attention longer than other saves I’ve tried.
I have the most fun when I’m making up a game within the game basically.
I first started to make my worlds Futuristic by using alot of Foxfury Statues, Get to Work,
Get Famous & Strangerville building objects.
My households were 10th Doctor Who,
Captain Janeway& Chakotay, X-Men's Storm, an Apocalypse Warrior Woman Sim and
Futuristic Scientist with his Alien Twin Children.
And now my Star Wars households.
This became my Futuristic Game Save.
Secondly, I started a new game to make my worlds Prehistoric by using alot of Tropical Trees & big Rocks, Island, Outdoor Retreat, Seasons & Jungle Adventure building objects.
(The Island was of course the easiest)
My main household is Adam & Eve.
The other households are Fallen Angels & Ghosts.
This became my Prehistoric Game Save.
Thirdly, I started a new game to make my worlds Medieval Renaissance by using alot of Pine Trees,
Get Together, Vampires, Realm of Magic,
Jungle Adventure, Cats & Dogs & Laundry Day building objects.
(Windenburg was of course the easiest)
My households are a female inventor,
Pocahontas & her husband, Snow White,
Cinderella & her negative step-family and
Two Peasant Orphans.
This became my Renaissance Game Save.
My Fourth & Final game is based on the
20th Century. There wasn't too much I had to do with my worlds. My households are
Three's Company, 1977 Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys, Little Orphan Annie & Shirley Temple,
Original Charmed Sisters.
This became my 20th Century Game Save.
With 4 game saves it's hard to be bored.😍
I started a save game back in February with the intention of creating my own sims and families over time, replacing all lots with my own and adding clubs and such. I started with eight University students and the idea has been to follow them through graduation, getting jobs, moving houses, getting married, having families etc. Each of my households are very different though; there's a mixture of traits and aspirations, careers and 'goals' for them. Some are married with children, some are childless couples, some are single.
I've now got to the stage where quite a few community lots have been replaced with ones I've built and I'm gradually adding families in to houses I've built. As my graduates earn more money and move out of their apartments in San Myshuno, I add new singles in, ready to start University in the Autumn.
I've got so much I haven't done in the game yet that it'll take me forever to discover it all but this will be the game I'll do it in.
My favorite save at the moment has my main vampire sim training his descendants in the way of the vampire while also trying to max every skill. He started alone in an apartment in San Myshuno and is now married to a spellcaster while living in a castle on the island in Windenburg.
I use the Plum Tree app to keep track of all his vampire relations and I've now reached the seventh generation (he has 23 children so as you can imagine there are a lot of vampires running around). Here it is if you're interested https://theplumtreeapp.com/public/5d989ae57974e00007339bbf
Each vampire born into his family must come train with him when they age up and max out the vampire Lore skill, finish the Master vampire aspiration (minus the survive 20 extra days part), and reach the top of the vampire skill tree and become day walkers. Then I move them out and move in the next trainee.
Each night I take them all out to a random community lot (usually a bar, nightclub, or gym) to feed and train with any elder vampires who happen to show up. It's fun to see all the different generations getting to know one another and sometimes falling in love (as long as they are not too closely related).
Earlier I would use MCCC to allow my sims to marry and have children on their own so I had fun tracking down who had what children and whether they were vampires or not, but now since I already have over 200 vampires, I'm a little more choosy about who can and cannot have a child.
I have other saves which I also have fun with, but this save I find myself coming back to again and again. I think it's because I know each of the characters so well after spending time training them.
What I have played a lot of, however, are traditional table-top Role-Playing Games. Where you get together with a bunch of friends and have pizza and snacks and roll dice and get off track catching up on life and distracted by someone's cat or kid doing something they shouldn't. The sort of Role-Playing games that no computer RPG will ever really simulate, no matter how well constructed. Computer RPG's don't adjust their plots because someone figured out where the diamonds were too early. Computer RPG's don't incorporate your personalized backstory into the plotline - unless you're using one of their premade characters, and then it doesn't really count as personalized, does it?
Traditional RPG's require work, they require set up, they require imagination.
They also require three to seven adults to manage to coordinate 4-6 hours of the week where everyone can get together. Something in short supply, even in the age of COVID-19 and Roll20 (or Fantasy Grounds, or whatever your preferred Virtual Table Top)
So I treat The Sims 4 as a solo RPG. One where I'm both player and Gamemaster and the AI is the dice. I'm constructing my own plots, with my own character goals, and letting the AI do the calculations to determine success or failure. Even when playing through the packs that have storylines, I can put my own twist on my character's motivations, what happens between the scripted events, and in some cases even how they approach accomplishing the requirements.
I don't mind needing to occasionally ignore that someone is doing pushups in the middle of the road. I remember having to ignore that one of the players had fallen asleep. I don't mind having to do a little extra lifting on the imagination front, because it's tiny compared to what I've had to do in setting up my games in the past. I don't mind having to roll with something being limited by the mechanics, because I've had to roll with players latching on to something irrelevant and not letting go. And I don't mind what little railroading that does happen because it's nothing like the railroading that occurs in normal computer RPG's and it's still very mild compared to some GM's I've had over the years.
I also have a different save now where I play Yaretzi Daigle who is 'living' in Batuu. She's working her way through the Resistance ranks and eventually falls in love with the enemy, a stormtrooper. 😇
Making up stories is the most fun part for me. I'm honestly never bored, whichever iteration of the game I'm playing.
Too Good at Goodbyes forum thread
Too Good at Goodbyes blog
Atm i have a playstyle that have been evolving slowly in time. I used to play legacies with one family only. Nowadays i create all of the households in the game and play all of them without any kind of schedulle or order. For me it isn't about a family story anymore but a community. How different sims develop their interests and their relationships in the community. When i decide to play one sim, that sim won't bath, eat, pee... i keep his/her motives up with cheats and just spend time playing cool things in their life. There are so many life paths to follow on the game... and the combinations are endless... that's how i have fun
This is the main family I've been playing for the last 4 years. They are loosely based on my real family. I started with my simself, played her for a while, then created my sim husband in game and had them meet up, date, move in together, and get married. The 3 girls were born as triplets but when they aged up to toddler I then aged one to child and one to teen so that I'd have one of each age group. In real life I have two boys so I was really happy to get girls in game.
I then created my sim parents (one household) and two brothers (one household) and my husband's sim parents (one household) and his 3 siblings (one household). I used a mod to set the relationships. Probably in the next few days I'll move each of the 5 siblings into their own homes and create their spouses and children. I've just been putting it off for over a year.
I call these my relative households and I don't play them. I invite them over for family get togethers, and meet up with them at community lots for socializing. My sim will go to the spa with her mother-in-law, or lunch with one of her brothers, etc. I also use Manage Households to move my sim kids in with their grandparents for the weekend or extended visits.
In between my family gameplay I have my simself completing all careers, aspirations, skills, collections, etc. Sometimes I'll move her out of the family household into a small house because it can get a bit chaotic trying to manage 5 sims and a dog. Usually when a new pack releases. Like right now she's living alone while completing the JTB missions.
I play with aging off and age up my sims when I feel ready. Since my real life son recently had twin girls I'm going to age up the teenager, get her married, and hopefully produce a couple of grandkids for my simself.
I don't play any townies but they're there to provide friendships and socializing opportunities with my sim family members.
There is very little drama. No adultery, affairs, fighting, death, in my game. I had enough of the drama with the previous versions when I was more of a storyteller and documented most of my gameplay. Now I'm content with just the occasional argument but for the most part calm, pleasant, fun family gameplay. With an RPG twist.
That's what you can do if you have played the game since it came out. My last Save has over 250 Sims and they are all getting along fine so far. I've started a new one though because I thought I would start them all off with small, under £10,000 houses for a change. I've several Saves which I've all named distinctively so that I remember what I did there and can revisit when a new pack comes out.
Sims 4 is more my style of game than any of the others.
When I'm at a loss or just don't want to visit my save games or themes or I'm just in the mood to remove the pool ladder for awhile I can usually play out a serial romantic impregnating the town or a black widow/er killing them off or a mad scientist experimenting on folks.. those characters usually have a save all their own with no rotating because the town is virtually all victims for their sociopathic tendencies anyway.
When new packs come I usually start a new save to give it a test run, unless it's just a perfect fit for a character in another save. Like when Nifty Knitting came out it fit my Ginia Kat character (Sims 1) for me so I just played with it in that save. When the Moschino Pack came out I had two photographers in two different saves that I used it with for a long time. I also had to test run it on the sim in my profile too
Also now and then I try my hand at a challenge although I've only completed one as is and really enjoyed doing it. It took a few weeks to complete. In most challenges though I'll only use them as a guide. I'll change the rules to suit me. I'm here for enjoyment, not to pull my hair out in frustration.
I also really prefer YA and A sims (to the point of usually kick Sims out of the household when they become elders) which is quite obviously what the target for most activities in the game is for anyway.
I don' t use any mods, my game is completely vanilla and I love it.
My only problem with Sims 4 is that I wish I had more time to play it.
I think that for me it has a lot to do with how I tend to have fun in general. I like writing stories. I like doing creative arts and crafts projects. I like doing photography. I like playing make-believe (something adults aren't probably supposed to admit, but it's true). What I like about the Sims 4 is that I can use my own imagination, create my own characters, direct the story in any way that I want to direct it, and have fun with other creative things like building, trying to get really beautiful screenshots, and making my own custom poses as well. The Sims 4 game is a really good box of tools for creative players.
Full disclosure, I do use some mods. Mostly the mods I use unlock the ability to control things that the game design doesn't let you control easily (or at all). I do that so that I will have even more tools at my disposal for my creative play and projects.
I mostly play Sims 4 like I am the director of a movie or a theater production. The sims are my actors. CAS is my costume designing studio. Build mode gives me access to set design and props. The various activities that sims can engage in are the story components of my theater scripts. Turning autonomy on full lets my actors do a little improv, and turning it off lets me tightly direct how a specific scene goes and make them stay on script. How much or how little I use any of these tools depends on what sort of story I am currently telling, the importance of a particular scene, and what sort of mood I'm in when I play that day. I have lots of different saved games with totally different stories and characters and I play them all differently with regards to all of these different elements.
It's all about the creative possibilities, or as Anne of Green Gables would put it the "scope for imagination". I like Sims 4 because it lets me use my own imagination a lot more than most games which have set challenges you have to overcome.
I don't play rotational all the time, I don't build all the time, I don't change my CAS a lot. I make my own Sims and I randomize some Sims (to hilarity sometimes, the kid's clothing picks are fabulous and exactly what a kid would pick out if they picked their own clothes.)
My current favorite worlds are Evergreen Harbor, BB, and Sulani. I am having a blast with EL and community lots at the moment.
Do I recognize all the bugs and problems as bugs and problems? Definitely not.
Do I use CC or mods? no.
Do I use cheats? MOO and motherlode with the rare showhiddenobjects. Aging off. That's it.
I just like the game.