Multitasking would be much more impressive if the Sims wouldn't interrupt it every two seconds to leave the chair or sofa, run to the opposite side of the room and continue the multitasked conversation from a distance of 10 metres.
Yeah it would be nice. Honestly I think it is ok if multitasking gets some improvements. Not like it isn't happening already with patches especially considering how the retail system is going to be optimized. It's not like the game is in a stand still. It's constantly being tweaked in many different areas.
@Sid1701D9 I honestly think a Sims online type of game would be really bad thing to do at this time because even 18 months later, the community is still heavily divided. If Simmers can't get along on forums or other sites, how are they supposed to get along in the game? I don't see it working right now. Personally I like keeping my Sims stories to myself. I don't want others messing it and honestly if people did, the deviant Simmer side of me wouldn't be safe around other Simmers. I don't play well with others and I'd probably set their Sims' house on fire or put gnomes on the lawns. Anyway there are plenty of free avatar chat sites out there already. I doubt the Sims could compete with established online sites and games. I'm pretty sure the game being currently developed Identity would blow them out of the water anyways. I mean that game has potential and making technological breakthroughs. It's a game of the future, not the past. The Sims does better as an offline game because there is less competition. The online market is flooded.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
I am not that impressed with multi-tasking. I've seen better in other iterations, with less technology.
I'd like to ask where? Last Time I checked somebody cant eat, workout, and watch tv at the same time in other games. Or eating, drinking, and talking or paint, listen to music, and talk at the same time.
Oh wait.... you can't.
Not to that extent.
Sims 3
Sims 2
It was much more subtle. But Multitasking is not new. It is just now player controlled. Multitasking so far has been a hassle because they take too many sim hours to eat. Sometimes when you only want to do one thing, the game gives other things on top of the activity you wanted them to do. And other times they run to the back of the house to talk to each other while they eat their breakfast. Also, there are routing issues with multitasking such as the sims just staring off into space for long periods of time or the actions that you wanted to multitask just cancels out.
It was much more subtle. But Multitasking is not new. It is just now player controlled. Multitasking so far has been a hassle because they take too many sim hours to eat. Sometimes when you only want to do one thing, the game gives other things on top of the activity you wanted them to do. And other times they run to the back of the house to talk to each other while they eat their breakfast. Also, there are routing issues with multitasking such as the sims just staring off into space for long periods of time or the actions that you wanted to multitask just cancels out.
Yeah it also has issues since GT with Sims freezing while doing multitasking activities during club events. It used to work better, but a patch messed it up somewhere. I hope they fix the freezing issue since I know I'm not alone in experiencing those bugs.
But thank you for explaining it better. Yeah multitasking has honestly been around since the Sims 1. I do tend to laugh whenever emotions and multitasking are talked about like "new" features when they have been around for years prior to the Sims 4 existence.
There are just some multitasking situations that are not possible in the Sims 4. Doesn't mean they can't be someday. But those situations do need to be figured out in order for some future features to work well. I honestly think Simmers have different experiences with their games. There are some bugs I experienced early on that took months for other Simmers to experience in their game.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Even though multitasking isn't perfect, I'll take that over a few extra objects. It's very immersive for me, personally, to the point where I can't play without it. I have no doubt it will remain in Sims 4, and if there is a Sims 5 and it's not introduced, I won't be interested.
I love multitasking in TS4. I know the other games had multitasking to some extent but it was very limited (e.g. sims drinking at restaurants in the sims 2 was just an idle animation, and you could not choose which drink they had). For me, multitasking helps immersion a lot. For example, here we have Dina Caliente. She's been working like crazy lately and does not have time for fun. As such, her fun bar is always pretty low. Well, here she is fixing breakfast for her family before running to the office. But she's also having fun, because she's listening to some music on the radio. She's even nodding her head with the music. That's immersion for me.
Now imagine this scene in TS2 or TS3: Dina wakes up at 7am. She has to head off to work at 9am. She's all cranky because her fun bar is low, but she's also hungry. She fixes breakfast for her family (complaining about her fun bar being low all the way through). Then she has breakfast with their family. Now you have to choose: either send her to work all stressed out because she's not had time to watch a little TV before work, or just take the day off.
TS4 may have many faults, but the multitasking system is definitely not one of them in my opinion.
Graham wasn't saying that Lounge chairs could not be created. He was saying the work needed/the hours needed to put into lounge chairs for social, multitasking, and other animations can't happen with a Stuff Pack. He did not say they weren't going to be made, he said they would have to be put into an expansion pack. Because they more than likely have more resources, money, etc for expansion packs because they're bigger and take longer. Stuff packs have a few items and what not.. and probably don't have a lot of "resources" for them. And they probably only have a few months to create them, whereas an expansion pack could have a year window to be made.
I could see lounge chairs being in a Seasons or Vacation Expansion pack.
Graham wasn't saying that Lounge chairs could not be created. He was saying the work needed/the hours needed to put into lounge chairs for social, multitasking, and other animations can't happen with a Stuff Pack. He did not say they weren't going to be made, he said they would have to be put into an expansion pack. Because they more than likely have more resources, money, etc for expansion packs because they're bigger and take longer. Stuff packs have a few items and what not.. and probably don't have a lot of "resources" for them. And they probably only have a few months to create them, whereas an expansion pack could have a year window to be made.
I could see lounge chairs being in a Seasons or Vacation Expansion pack.
This and also a shout out to Graham and the stuffpack team for the awesome stuffpacks they brings us.
I am not that impressed with multi-tasking. I've seen better in other iterations, with less technology.
I'd like to ask where? Last Time I checked somebody cant eat, workout, and watch tv at the same time in other games. Or eating, drinking, and talking or paint, listen to music, and talk at the same time.
Oh wait.... you can't.
Making a phonecall while holding a toddler for instance. Last time I checked I never felt the urge to eat, workout and watch tv all at once by the way. And that my issue with multitasking in Sims 4: it's often so utterly silly and unrealistic. And it causes them to need hours to eat one meal. And babies are tied to their crib because of it apparently.
Eating, working, and watching tv was just an example. As for holding a toddler and talking on the phone, that has to do with the way the game handles and equips things. Babies are tied to the crib because of issues with sims automatically holstering the babies like other items/objects, they had the same issue in The Sims 3 when developing the game, but multitasking made working around it much harder.
I know it was an example but the example speaks volumes for me. It indicates (for me) why people seem to love this feature: because it's something new and shiny and great on paper. "Hah hah, but now they can eat and drink and brush their teeth and watch tv and read a book while standing on their head and singing a folk song all at the same time!" I can see why you love that but not everybody does. Not everybody cares they can do that and some (like me) feel the multitasking delivers more flaws than joy. I'd love multitasking if it was done in a casual, natural way like the phonecall while holding a child. They just do that. It doesn't take extra time and it looks realistic.
I don't believe they had the same issue with babies in 3? The issue in that game (and the predecessor) was that sims would leave babies everywhere on the floor instead of holding them and that just feels wrong for a lot of people, so they had to do something about it. And they did. I appreciate that was a lot of work but as a player I say chapeau. (Active) sims in 3 will automatically put their babies into their crib before doing something else and as a player I'm delighted by it. And that's the difference that I feel. In Sims 3 they apparently got the time and the money to do that (and if EA hasn't noticed yet, Sims players care about details like that a lot so yes, it is worth the time and the money). The only solutions for issues Sims 4 appears to be having is just removing it from the game. At least, that's how it feels at this side of the terminal.
ETA: a great solution for the baby on the floor thing by the way would be to let babies just be helpless infants while lying in their crib. As soon as you put them on a floor they could turn into a crawling baby, like in TSF. Less fragile and dependent.
I think people need to start realizing that EA can't give them EXACTLY what they want. If you want lounge chairs but don't want multitasking because it's "useless" how's that fair to those who want multitasking. You need to step out of your bubble and realize you're not the only person who plays the Sims 4.
I can throw this post right back at you How is it fair to expect simmers to embrace (flawed) multitasking when they feel other things in the game are more important but they became impossible (or really hard to do) due to multitasking? I don't quite understand why it's a bad thing to defend what you value in the game on a Sims forum.
I love multitasking in TS4. I know the other games had multitasking to some extent but it was very limited (e.g. sims drinking at restaurants in the sims 2 was just an idle animation, and you could not choose which drink they had). For me, multitasking helps immersion a lot. For example, here we have Dina Caliente. She's been working like crazy lately and does not have time for fun. As such, her fun bar is always pretty low. Well, here she is fixing breakfast for her family before running to the office. But she's also having fun, because she's listening to some music on the radio. She's even nodding her head with the music. That's immersion for me.
Now imagine this scene in TS2 or TS3: Dina wakes up at 7am. She has to head off to work at 9am. She's all cranky because her fun bar is low, but she's also hungry. She fixes breakfast for her family (complaining about her fun bar being low all the way through). Then she has breakfast with their family. Now you have to choose: either send her to work all stressed out because she's not had time to watch a little TV before work, or just take the day off.
TS4 may have many faults, but the multitasking system is definitely not one of them in my opinion.
Keeping my sims nourished and satisfied isn't exactly an issue in Sims 3 I can assure you Having said that: if this would be what multitaskng was about in 4: yeah, great. Nothing against it. But you won't solve the problems by just highlighting the moments where it does work.
I love multitasking in TS4. I know the other games had multitasking to some extent but it was very limited (e.g. sims drinking at restaurants in the sims 2 was just an idle animation, and you could not choose which drink they had). For me, multitasking helps immersion a lot. For example, here we have Dina Caliente. She's been working like crazy lately and does not have time for fun. As such, her fun bar is always pretty low. Well, here she is fixing breakfast for her family before running to the office. But she's also having fun, because she's listening to some music on the radio. She's even nodding her head with the music. That's immersion for me.
Now imagine this scene in TS2 or TS3: Dina wakes up at 7am. She has to head off to work at 9am. She's all cranky because her fun bar is low, but she's also hungry. She fixes breakfast for her family (complaining about her fun bar being low all the way through). Then she has breakfast with their family. Now you have to choose: either send her to work all stressed out because she's not had time to watch a little TV before work, or just take the day off.
TS4 may have many faults, but the multitasking system is definitely not one of them in my opinion.
Keeping my sims nourished and satisfied isn't exactly an issue in Sims 3 I can assure you Having said that: if this would be what multitaskng was about in 4: yeah, great. Nothing against it. But you won't solve the problems by just highlighting the moments where it does work.
The thing is this is what multitasking is about, at least for me. That's how I use it. And it does work most of the time. I haven't encountered real issues with multitasking in this game apart from the musical chairs thing...but I guess everyone has different experiences and opinions so we can agree to disagree
I love multitasking in TS4. I know the other games had multitasking to some extent but it was very limited (e.g. sims drinking at restaurants in the sims 2 was just an idle animation, and you could not choose which drink they had). For me, multitasking helps immersion a lot. For example, here we have Dina Caliente. She's been working like crazy lately and does not have time for fun. As such, her fun bar is always pretty low. Well, here she is fixing breakfast for her family before running to the office. But she's also having fun, because she's listening to some music on the radio. She's even nodding her head with the music. That's immersion for me.
Now imagine this scene in TS2 or TS3: Dina wakes up at 7am. She has to head off to work at 9am. She's all cranky because her fun bar is low, but she's also hungry. She fixes breakfast for her family (complaining about her fun bar being low all the way through). Then she has breakfast with their family. Now you have to choose: either send her to work all stressed out because she's not had time to watch a little TV before work, or just take the day off.
TS4 may have many faults, but the multitasking system is definitely not one of them in my opinion.
Keeping my sims nourished and satisfied isn't exactly an issue in Sims 3 I can assure you Having said that: if this would be what multitaskng was about in 4: yeah, great. Nothing against it. But you won't solve the problems by just highlighting the moments where it does work.
The thing is this is what multitasking is about, at least for me. That's how I use it. And it does work most of the time. I haven't encountered real issues with multitasking in this game apart from the musical chairs thing...but I guess everyone has different experiences and opinions so we can agree to disagree
For me it wasn't a time saver when I played, as it is often presented. She saves time by combining cooking and enjoying music, but after that eating takes way way longer due to the same multitasking. But yes, of course it's all a matter of perception, that's the whole foundation of a forum. People sharing their perception along with facts
who made the sims 2 why was it so easy to get these animations in the sims 2 but it seems like its so hard to get the same animations almost 10 years later bring back the devs that made the sims 2 work my goodness
There was no TS4 type of multi tasking in TS2. The most TS2 sims can do is read a book, I think, and relax on the chair?
I think people need to start realizing that EA can't give them EXACTLY what they want. If you want lounge chairs but don't want multitasking because it's "useless" how's that fair to those who want multitasking. You need to step out of your bubble and realize you're not the only person who plays the Sims 4.
I can throw this post right back at you How is it fair to expect simmers to embrace (flawed) multitasking when they feel other things in the game are more important but they became impossible (or really hard to do) due to multitasking? I don't quite understand why it's a bad thing to defend what you value in the game on a Sims forum.
Um i'm sorry but I feel that you diagnosing multitasking as "flawed" is opinionated cause I don't think that as well as alot of other people and we can get both multitasking and lounge chairs so your off topic a bit. I'm talking about people who think what they want in a game is more important than what others want. Like when people complain about getting one pack that they didn't want and blaming that on EA. You have to complain when there is an actual problem and you not having every aspect you want is not a problem.
The multitasking in my game works really well. I save a lot of time. My Sims eat and watch tv or listen to music (And eating does not take longer with that, the only time it takes longer is, if another Sim comes and hugs them...., which happens sometimes). I played all Sim games and I really feel like it's a strong improvement. I am quite astonished to see how many players praise Sims 3 so highly...it was the most bugged game I have ever seen to the point where many players including me were not able to enjoy the game because it crashed every 20 minutes. In Sims 4 they tried to go back to the Sims 1 days and Sims 2 days, where the game was relatively stable. Also, a lot of people complain that it's too much about partying...the first expansions of Sims 1 focussed on that, but the game did not stop there. The sims is a game that always had EPs. Some complain about lacking seasons etc, but personally I was aware that all that will probably come and will be great....in an EP, that's how this games works
I think people need to start realizing that EA can't give them EXACTLY what they want. If you want lounge chairs but don't want multitasking because it's "useless" how's that fair to those who want multitasking. You need to step out of your bubble and realize you're not the only person who plays the Sims 4.
I can throw this post right back at you How is it fair to expect simmers to embrace (flawed) multitasking when they feel other things in the game are more important but they became impossible (or really hard to do) due to multitasking? I don't quite understand why it's a bad thing to defend what you value in the game on a Sims forum.
Um i'm sorry but I feel that you diagnosing multitasking as "flawed" is opinionated cause I don't think that as well as alot of other people and we can get both multitasking and lounge chairs so your off topic a bit. I'm talking about people who think what they want in a game is more important than what others want. Like when people complain about getting one pack that they didn't want and blaming that on EA. You have to complain when there is an actual problem and you not having every aspect you want is not a problem.
Yet again look at it from what you are saying to others. You are judging it's not flawed by your experience and you want people to embrace your experience and disregard their own-then not only to disregard their own experiences but telling them they are 'wrong' for disagreeing with you. It's the exact same thing. You are asking someone else to value your experience over their own.
It is not about 'having every aspect' of what they want. It's about having enough for them to enjoy the game too as well as you. And there is nothing wrong with asking for that-that very concept is protected in the rules here anyway.
Multitasking would be much more impressive if the Sims wouldn't interrupt it every two seconds to leave the chair or sofa, run to the opposite side of the room and continue the multitasked conversation from a distance of 10 metres.
Yeah it would be nice. Honestly I think it is ok if multitasking gets some improvements. Not like it isn't happening already with patches especially considering how the retail system is going to be optimized. It's not like the game is in a stand still. It's constantly being tweaked in many different areas.
@Sid1701D9 I honestly think a Sims online type of game would be really bad thing to do at this time because even 18 months later, the community is still heavily divided. If Simmers can't get along on forums or other sites, how are they supposed to get along in the game? I don't see it working right now. Personally I like keeping my Sims stories to myself. I don't want others messing it and honestly if people did, the deviant Simmer side of me wouldn't be safe around other Simmers. I don't play well with others and I'd probably set their Sims' house on fire or put gnomes on the lawns. Anyway there are plenty of free avatar chat sites out there already. I doubt the Sims could compete with established online sites and games. I'm pretty sure the game being currently developed Identity would blow them out of the water anyways. I mean that game has potential and making technological breakthroughs. It's a game of the future, not the past. The Sims does better as an offline game because there is less competition. The online market is flooded.
NO, not MMORG that was already tried with The Sims Online in 2002 and there was social problems, what I am talking about is I think it would be cool if the Sims 4 had a multi-player element like Giants current Farmville, the servers are private and created by users. So if you wanted to share your world you cold just by clicking share and it would show up in the Gallery as a server. They have the ability to support user shared worlds and two friends or more should be able to share their worlds really easily. This game can't be MMORG, because most of the MMorg base would have to be online, I think at one point they wanted it to be a MMORG, but decided against it towards the end. The major reason is Sims City 5, that was a poor design, and it could have took off if they did it right. Firstly no MMORG have enough servers when they launch. Secondly the Sim city regions should have been saved on the server and individual cities should have been saved locally, but backed up through the regional support.
Sid1701d-"I love my life, live my life and live to play, laugh and have fun."
"Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
It seems to me that the new multitasking feature was made so that people could buff stats and power level skills faster, instead of a realistic feature that approximates real life. A lot of the examples that have been mentioned are ridiculous, you cannot read and watch TV at the same time! Trust me I always had the TV on while studying, but either you pay attention to the book or you pay attention to the TV, and if you have a radio going on at the same time, well now that's beyond ridiculous.
Past versions of the Sims seemed to already have the most common multitasking activities. We talk while playing chess. We listen to the radio while cooking or painting. But we don't eat while going to the bathroom. I don't know but this new multitasking system seems to be very contrived and sold as a way for players to maximize their needs quickly and efficiently. This fits in with the goal oriented focus of the Sims 4. I'm surprised a min/maxer hasn't posted the best multitasking combinations that will raise the most number of needs the fastest. Or maybe someone already has.
I love multitasking in TS4. I know the other games had multitasking to some extent but it was very limited (e.g. sims drinking at restaurants in the sims 2 was just an idle animation, and you could not choose which drink they had). For me, multitasking helps immersion a lot. For example, here we have Dina Caliente. She's been working like crazy lately and does not have time for fun. As such, her fun bar is always pretty low. Well, here she is fixing breakfast for her family before running to the office. But she's also having fun, because she's listening to some music on the radio. She's even nodding her head with the music. That's immersion for me.
Now imagine this scene in TS2 or TS3: Dina wakes up at 7am. She has to head off to work at 9am. She's all cranky because her fun bar is low, but she's also hungry. She fixes breakfast for her family (complaining about her fun bar being low all the way through). Then she has breakfast with their family. Now you have to choose: either send her to work all stressed out because she's not had time to watch a little TV before work, or just take the day off.
TS4 may have many faults, but the multitasking system is definitely not one of them in my opinion.
There is no doubt TS4 has great multitasking, but it still doesn't have toddlers etc, and it still feels way too boring compared with the other versions for whatever reason.
I am not that impressed with multi-tasking. I've seen better in other iterations, with less technology.
I'd like to ask where? Last Time I checked somebody cant eat, workout, and watch tv at the same time in other games. Or eating, drinking, and talking or paint, listen to music, and talk at the same time.
Oh wait.... you can't.
Making a phonecall while holding a toddler for instance. Last time I checked I never felt the urge to eat, workout and watch tv all at once by the way. And that my issue with multitasking in Sims 4: it's often so utterly silly and unrealistic. And it causes them to need hours to eat one meal. And babies are tied to their crib because of it apparently.
Eating, working, and watching tv was just an example. As for holding a toddler and talking on the phone, that has to do with the way the game handles and equips things. Babies are tied to the crib because of issues with sims automatically holstering the babies like other items/objects, they had the same issue in The Sims 3 when developing the game, but multitasking made working around it much harder.
@Gabe_oz is making some good points. Sims 2 and 3 all they could do on the bed was read or watch tv (not both simultaneously). Also, I think most forget just how complicated the multitasking system is. It also involves the ordering of actions. So a sim is reading, and stands up. But you want them to sit down. So you tell them to sit down, and they do; without stopping the action of reading. There is no debating whether the multitasking is more complicated in previous iterations, because it wasn't. If you wanted a sim to do something you *always* had to stop their previous actions. In S4, multitasking allows you fill several needs at once.
Do people actually do that? x] I know if I tried watching TV and reading I would have the hardest time comprehending what I just read/watched.
Half my family does that, either reading a book or reading stuff on their phone. Last night we were watching a show and I was the only one without something to read. I used to read, watch sports, and knit at the same time, which impressed my mother-in-law. I don't as much now but it depends on what the game is.
I like the multitasking. It makes my Sims' activity flow feel more natural than it did in previous Sims games. I only wish they also had the option of reading or browsing the web while eating. That one sticks out for me as missing.
Coffee's ready. Off to the breakfast table with that and something to read.
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Oh, if your talking about multi tasking they must have better ability to select stuff out than us humans, reading a book, watching TV and listing to music. This would max your fun up the fastest and if you just happen to be on the comedy channel a extra bonus.
Sid1701d-"I love my life, live my life and live to play, laugh and have fun."
"Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
I think I am spoiled with TS1, TS2, and TS3. Lounging beside a pool is a life simulation. I guess I got spoiled by Will Wright and his team. Falling asleep in a recliner (cloned from a lounge chair or vice versa...the bhavs) just made me expect that every game hence would remember those little things that bring a game to life and make me believe it's an actual life simulator and not just some avatar game where I push around characters to do things. If they need example of what I mean by that then think The Promised Land game which is a childish game you push around little characters to 'skill' and build things etc. or grow things etc., and they need to eat, (but not sleep) socialize, and keep up their health bar. Or a little childish game like Farm Tribe 1 or 2. Yes, those are life simulators because they are simulating what people have to do to raise crops and cook meals. However, The Sims is supposed to be way beyond anything ever offered. And lately all I am seeing is some simulation to get things done, to get to the win of it, and go to the next thing. I actually see less of a life simulator in the last two games by Maxis than the first two had. And that to me is what does an injustice to it's legacy. And yeah, lounge chairs and recliners matter or you are playing nothing more than Farm Tribe 2, or The Promised Land etc. Or worse Virtual Villagers. The least animated game of all time.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
NO, not MMORG that was already tried with The Sims Online in 2002 and there was social problems, what I am talking about is I think it would be cool if the Sims 4 had a multi-player element like Giants current Farmville, the servers are private and created by users. So if you wanted to share your world you cold just by clicking share and it would show up in the Gallery as a server. They have the ability to support user shared worlds and two friends or more should be able to share their worlds really easily. This game can't be MMORG, because most of the MMorg base would have to be online, I think at one point they wanted it to be a MMORG, but decided against it towards the end. The major reason is Sims City 5, that was a poor design, and it could have took off if they did it right. Firstly no MMORG have enough servers when they launch. Secondly the Sim city regions should have been saved on the server and individual cities should have been saved locally, but backed up through the regional support.
Ah ok, thank you for clarifying it better. Yeah that would be a nice option. Just would be cool for a turn on or off option for it for those that don't want to use it.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
I think I am spoiled with TS1, TS2, and TS3. Lounging beside a pool is a life simulation. I guess I got spoiled by Will Wright and his team. Falling asleep in a recliner (cloned from a lounge chair or vice versa...the bhavs) just made me expect that every game hence would remember those little things that bring a game to life and make me believe it's an actual life simulator and not just some avatar game where I push around characters to do things. If they need example of what I mean by that then think The Promised Land game which is a childish game you push around little characters to 'skill' and build things etc. or grow things etc., and they need to eat, (but not sleep) socialize, and keep up their health bar. Or a little childish game like Farm Tribe 1 or 2. Yes, those are life simulators because they are simulating what people have to do to raise crops and cook meals. However, The Sims is supposed to be way beyond anything ever offered. And lately all I am seeing is some simulation to get things done, to get to the win of it, and go to the next thing. I actually see less of a life simulator in the last two games by Maxis than the first two had. And that to me is what does an injustice to it's legacy. And yeah, lounge chairs and recliners matter or you are playing nothing more than Farm Tribe 2, or The Promised Land etc. Or worse Virtual Villagers. The least animated game of all time.
I agree that little details matter because otherwise immersion is broken. But I think you're overreacting here. I understand that the lack of toddlers, the fact that cars run through sims etc. may break immersion for some (at least they do for me). Those details matter. But you just compared TS4 to Farm Tribe just because we don't have lounge chairs....anyway, it's your opinion and since you (and many others in this post) feel so strongly about lounge chairs, I hope we get them in the future!
By the way, sims in Ts4 can sit on the edge of the pool, have a drink and chat with their friends (all at the same time). Some random sim may swim by and splash your sims while they're sitting there too. I also call that life simulation and you couldn't do it in previous games.
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@Sid1701D9 I honestly think a Sims online type of game would be really bad thing to do at this time because even 18 months later, the community is still heavily divided. If Simmers can't get along on forums or other sites, how are they supposed to get along in the game? I don't see it working right now. Personally I like keeping my Sims stories to myself. I don't want others messing it and honestly if people did, the deviant Simmer side of me wouldn't be safe around other Simmers. I don't play well with others and I'd probably set their Sims' house on fire or put gnomes on the lawns. Anyway there are plenty of free avatar chat sites out there already. I doubt the Sims could compete with established online sites and games. I'm pretty sure the game being currently developed Identity would blow them out of the water anyways. I mean that game has potential and making technological breakthroughs. It's a game of the future, not the past. The Sims does better as an offline game because there is less competition. The online market is flooded.
Sims 3
Sims 2
It was much more subtle. But Multitasking is not new. It is just now player controlled. Multitasking so far has been a hassle because they take too many sim hours to eat. Sometimes when you only want to do one thing, the game gives other things on top of the activity you wanted them to do. And other times they run to the back of the house to talk to each other while they eat their breakfast. Also, there are routing issues with multitasking such as the sims just staring off into space for long periods of time or the actions that you wanted to multitask just cancels out.
But thank you for explaining it better. Yeah multitasking has honestly been around since the Sims 1. I do tend to laugh whenever emotions and multitasking are talked about like "new" features when they have been around for years prior to the Sims 4 existence.
There are just some multitasking situations that are not possible in the Sims 4. Doesn't mean they can't be someday. But those situations do need to be figured out in order for some future features to work well. I honestly think Simmers have different experiences with their games. There are some bugs I experienced early on that took months for other Simmers to experience in their game.
That's how strongly I feel about it.
My tumblr - A world of clutter and color
Now imagine this scene in TS2 or TS3: Dina wakes up at 7am. She has to head off to work at 9am. She's all cranky because her fun bar is low, but she's also hungry. She fixes breakfast for her family (complaining about her fun bar being low all the way through). Then she has breakfast with their family. Now you have to choose: either send her to work all stressed out because she's not had time to watch a little TV before work, or just take the day off.
TS4 may have many faults, but the multitasking system is definitely not one of them in my opinion.
I could see lounge chairs being in a Seasons or Vacation Expansion pack.
This and also a shout out to Graham and the stuffpack team for the awesome stuffpacks they brings us.
I don't believe they had the same issue with babies in 3? The issue in that game (and the predecessor) was that sims would leave babies everywhere on the floor instead of holding them and that just feels wrong for a lot of people, so they had to do something about it. And they did. I appreciate that was a lot of work but as a player I say chapeau. (Active) sims in 3 will automatically put their babies into their crib before doing something else and as a player I'm delighted by it. And that's the difference that I feel. In Sims 3 they apparently got the time and the money to do that (and if EA hasn't noticed yet, Sims players care about details like that a lot so yes, it is worth the time and the money). The only solutions for issues Sims 4 appears to be having is just removing it from the game. At least, that's how it feels at this side of the terminal.
ETA: a great solution for the baby on the floor thing by the way would be to let babies just be helpless infants while lying in their crib. As soon as you put them on a floor they could turn into a crawling baby, like in TSF. Less fragile and dependent.
The thing is this is what multitasking is about, at least for me. That's how I use it. And it does work most of the time. I haven't encountered real issues with multitasking in this game apart from the musical chairs thing...but I guess everyone has different experiences and opinions so we can agree to disagree
There was no TS4 type of multi tasking in TS2. The most TS2 sims can do is read a book, I think, and relax on the chair?
Yet again look at it from what you are saying to others. You are judging it's not flawed by your experience and you want people to embrace your experience and disregard their own-then not only to disregard their own experiences but telling them they are 'wrong' for disagreeing with you. It's the exact same thing. You are asking someone else to value your experience over their own.
It is not about 'having every aspect' of what they want. It's about having enough for them to enjoy the game too as well as you. And there is nothing wrong with asking for that-that very concept is protected in the rules here anyway.
https://twitter.com/sparkfairy1
NO, not MMORG that was already tried with The Sims Online in 2002 and there was social problems, what I am talking about is I think it would be cool if the Sims 4 had a multi-player element like Giants current Farmville, the servers are private and created by users. So if you wanted to share your world you cold just by clicking share and it would show up in the Gallery as a server. They have the ability to support user shared worlds and two friends or more should be able to share their worlds really easily. This game can't be MMORG, because most of the MMorg base would have to be online, I think at one point they wanted it to be a MMORG, but decided against it towards the end. The major reason is Sims City 5, that was a poor design, and it could have took off if they did it right. Firstly no MMORG have enough servers when they launch. Secondly the Sim city regions should have been saved on the server and individual cities should have been saved locally, but backed up through the regional support.
"Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
Past versions of the Sims seemed to already have the most common multitasking activities. We talk while playing chess. We listen to the radio while cooking or painting. But we don't eat while going to the bathroom. I don't know but this new multitasking system seems to be very contrived and sold as a way for players to maximize their needs quickly and efficiently. This fits in with the goal oriented focus of the Sims 4. I'm surprised a min/maxer hasn't posted the best multitasking combinations that will raise the most number of needs the fastest. Or maybe someone already has.
There is no doubt TS4 has great multitasking, but it still doesn't have toddlers etc, and it still feels way too boring compared with the other versions for whatever reason.
Half my family does that, either reading a book or reading stuff on their phone. Last night we were watching a show and I was the only one without something to read. I used to read, watch sports, and knit at the same time, which impressed my mother-in-law. I don't as much now but it depends on what the game is.
I like the multitasking. It makes my Sims' activity flow feel more natural than it did in previous Sims games. I only wish they also had the option of reading or browsing the web while eating. That one sticks out for me as missing.
Coffee's ready. Off to the breakfast table with that and something to read.
"Love will Fight, Love will Win and Love will Survive."
I agree that little details matter because otherwise immersion is broken. But I think you're overreacting here. I understand that the lack of toddlers, the fact that cars run through sims etc. may break immersion for some (at least they do for me). Those details matter. But you just compared TS4 to Farm Tribe just because we don't have lounge chairs....anyway, it's your opinion and since you (and many others in this post) feel so strongly about lounge chairs, I hope we get them in the future!
By the way, sims in Ts4 can sit on the edge of the pool, have a drink and chat with their friends (all at the same time). Some random sim may swim by and splash your sims while they're sitting there too. I also call that life simulation and you couldn't do it in previous games.