What I like - Closed Worlds «12...Next Go

SimonSimpson

When I read that Sims 3 would have open worlds, I was enchanted. When I read that Sims 4 wouldn't have open worlds, I was disenchanted. Open worlds in Sims 3 were fun, and a remarkable improvement over the closed worlds of Sims 2. But they came with a cost. Now having played a 'hybrid' version of open and closed in Sims 4, the cost is much more clear to me and I realize I no longer wish to pay it. I appreciate the balance of open and closed and just want to express my appreciation to the Maxis team. I'm sure it was a tough decision, but I think it was handled very well.

1upMushrooms

I agree as well! I like the idea of having certain 'areas' as an open world, but the neighborhood as a whole as a closed world. What I do want, however, is that there wouldn't be loading times for lots within those 'areas' (ie. nextdoor neighbor's houses, gym to bar, etc.). Maybe EA can develop a way for us simmers to create our own 'areas' and hopefully, later, a whole world in the future!

JoAnne65

Open world didn't come with a cost for me. What cost? And the Sims 2 system, with its fitting backdrops and customizable worlds and all sims controllable at all times - even when it meant no time continuation which is a nuisance in a different way but still - in a way feels more hybrid and open to me than Sims 4's system. The fact part of your family is uncontrollable isn't handled very well at all imo. Even Freeplay does that better.

SimonSimpson

The hardware cost was that Sims 3 eventually became very sluggish. My all-time favorite Sim family was ultimately unplayable, but that may have had more to do with their history than the open-world. On the other hand, a brand new family in IP was almost as bad. I even upgraded my graphics card for that EP, but the gameplay was still choppy. I'm still using the same comp for Sims 4 that I used for Sims 3 IP, and the smoothness of gameplay is better at the same time that the aesthetics are better.

The in-game cost was empty lots. I had to hunt all over town to figure out where a specific townie Sim was. The fact that every Sim was in some particular place at all times meant a much lower Sim to lot ratio. I like that I can take my Sims 4 family to the park and there's always plenty of other Sims there.

I don't remember the TS2 world in any good way. What I remember was time-hole lots, where you could send a Sim or group of Sims to another lot, have them be there for hours or even days, then return home and lose no time. Any Sim you left behind would still be doing exactly what you left them doing, but that didn't feel more controllable so much as the whole system feeling more exploitable.

I don't mind the leaving Sims behind aspect of TS4. I don't use it often, because I do prefer having control. But I like the option more than going back and forth from lot to lot making sure the Sims I left at home aren't burning the place down.

Voeille

There is a mod for TS2 that handles the time better, and I’d like to see something similar in TS4, it’d be much better than leaving sims doing not much and wasting their time. I described it in another thread:

I wrote:

In the vanilla game when your sim left the home lot e.g. at 7:00 and came back when it was 16:00 on the community lot, it was again 7:00 on the home lot, the time spent on the community lot didn’t pass there. It was unrealistic. But, I have a mod that changes it – it’s still 7:00 when I come back, but the sim is away and they won’t go back until 16:00. In the meantime I can control other sims on the home lot, and that’s a really good solution – when I leave the community lot at 16:00 I imagine a screen saying In the meantime..., and I’m back on the home lot at 7:00, so in fact I control all the sims on different lots during the same period of in-game time, the difference is the real time – firstly I control the sim on the community lot, and then the sims that are left at home. I hope that description is somehow clear. The disadvantages are that I can’t go to a community lot with those sims that are left at home before the other sim is back, and when all the sims were on a community lot, I have to wait until they’re back without having anyone to control on the home lot.
Anyway, I’d like that solution in TS4 – just without those negative things, a modder couldn’t handle them, but the devs surely could. In my opinion it’d be much better than leaving other sims unproductively wasting their time.

As for sims on lots, it depends on various factors, I’ve experienced both empty and full lots.

And yes, I’d like to have open world again, or at the very least open neighbourhoods, seeing a loading screen when your sim is maybe a sim-metre from the lot you just want to visit seems ridiculous and immersion-breaking.

simgirl1010

While I enjoy the open world in Sims 3 I also like the closed world in Sims 4. For me it seems a bit more cozy and neighborly and immersive. I'm perfectly fine just being able to see neighbors going about their business. I just wish they'd given us open neighborhood so that we could visit lots in the vicinity.

Polyrhythm

I need sims at home to be able to do something useful. The just vanish into the ether with magically filled needs when you leave...my sims returned from work to a completely empty lot and their needs still got filled lol.
Need decay/filling of sims at home should be tweaked mostly so that everyone isn't wide awoke at 4am then tired by 8 or 9am when it's time for work/school.

teaa5

I will always miss the open world in sims 4.. I didn't have any problems playing and sorry to hear OP you had them. the funniest thing.. sims 4 lags for me.. and I think emotions were not worth the fuss.. but it is my opinion.. so all the cuts they made to make sims 4.. rather have more in common with costs than anything in the game... it was even said that their budget was limited.

Olivesplum06

The budget was "limited" because they basically had to scrap half of what they had already done, and start over. That's their own fault. They could've capitalized on it and created a new system setup for an open world, with less bugs and lag. Yes, it is possible. Just takes some hard work. So, the fact that you're thanking them for their own mistake is silly.

JoAnne65

SimonSimpson wrote: »

The hardware cost was that Sims 3 eventually became very sluggish. My all-time favorite Sim family was ultimately unplayable, but that may have had more to do with their history than the open-world. On the other hand, a brand new family in IP was almost as bad. I even upgraded my graphics card for that EP, but the gameplay was still choppy. I'm still using the same comp for Sims 4 that I used for Sims 3 IP, and the smoothness of gameplay is better at the same time that the aesthetics are better.

The in-game cost was empty lots. I had to hunt all over town to figure out where a specific townie Sim was. The fact that every Sim was in some particular place at all times meant a much lower Sim to lot ratio. I like that I can take my Sims 4 family to the park and there's always plenty of other Sims there.

I don't remember the TS2 world in any good way. What I remember was time-hole lots, where you could send a Sim or group of Sims to another lot, have them be there for hours or even days, then return home and lose no time. Any Sim you left behind would still be doing exactly what you left them doing, but that didn't feel more controllable so much as the whole system feeling more exploitable.

I don't mind the leaving Sims behind aspect of TS4. I don't use it often, because I do prefer having control. But I like the option more than going back and forth from lot to lot making sure the Sims I left at home aren't burning the place down.

Those are costs that are PC and CC related (and PC's are only improving; I have lots in the game now with up to ten sims). I regret Sims 3's flaws concerning worlds (and its engine) apparently are model for the idea of open world in general now. All people constantly come up with are IP and Bridgeport in this respect and rightly so, but they are two out of twenty-three worlds in total.
The fact I don't know where every sim is in fact isn't a price to pay for me, I love that. It adds a sense of surprise to the game that feels realistic to me. And if I really really really need a sim immediately I type resetsim and flash, they're at home, so it isn't even that hard to find them.

And I actually love it when one of my sims accidently burns the house down. They never do because I'm swooshed to my home lot as soon as it happens and I'll have time enough to do something about it. Or not.

More_Moore

The demi-open worlds in TS4 not only fixed the issues from TS3, but also kept some kind of "this world is alive" vibe due to you being able to still witness all of the surroundings. It's really a great compromise. And I hope it is kept until a better functioning "open world" system can be realized - but with Simulation games this would of course almost be disaster, and TS3 is proof of that. Lacking gameplay with venues due to it. At least TS4 venues are alive and playable~ If they can someday realize open worlds that funtion smoothly as TS4 that'd be nice, but I think we have much to go into the future before this dev team can handle such a thing.

JoAnne65

More_Moore wrote: »

The demi-open worlds in TS4 not only fixed the issues from TS3, but also kept some kind of "this world is alive" vibe due to you being able to still witness all of the surroundings. It's really a great compromise. And I hope it is kept until a better functioning "open world" system can be realized - but with Simulation games this would of course almost be disaster, and TS3 is proof of that. Lacking gameplay with venues due to it. At least TS4 venues are alive and playable~ If they can someday realize open worlds that funtion smoothly as TS4 that'd be nice, but I think we have much to go into the future before this dev team can handle such a thing.

*presses disagree*
*discovers that button's gone*

DegrassiGen

As much as I do prefer open world and loved it in Sims 3 I really at the same time prefer how neighborhoods are set up in The Sims 4 because that's what they are neighborhoods. Residence and commercial districts that have their own looks and personalities to it rather being exactly the same everywhere. They are in the same environment but the look and feel to it are different in each neighborhood. This style gives a more personal feel and I say if The Sims 4 was to revert back to a Sims 2 style game except a little more open I choose this rather then have a blue screen surrounding the lot as it breaks the immersion of it being a neighborhood and seeing it more as a small box! I love that neighborhoods in The Sims 4 are more relatiable to the real world.

For instance most of Oasis Springs reminds me of Phoenix, AZ especially the mountain backdrops that reminds me of the south mountains! I always think of Phoenix when I see it and while Willow Creek is inspired by New Orleans some of the neighborhoods actually reminds me of Alpharetta, GA for whatever reason on that lol. I feel that in some ways the real world inspires the worlds and neighborhoods of The Sims 4. And that's what makes it more appealing to me....Yeah we are back to single lots but your not trapped on it. We have open spaces and it's even larger in Windenburg! Go camping out there. My Sim bartends naked in the middle of the intersection....enjoy those open spaces and not let that be the limit!

ts1depot

Being a complete CAW control freak in TS3, I thought I was going to hate going back to playing in a world that I didn't make myself. But the environments in TS4 are so unbelievably gorgeous, detailed and full of life that I fell in love with open neighborhood immediately.

I also appreciate the ingenuity of how open neighborhood works. You get the illusion of being in a vast, open world without having to deal with all the hardware issues that come with one. There are also these other things that I like:

1. You're not losing time to get anywhere. Remember how people complained in TS3 that they didn't have enough time to do anything? It was because you had to commute to get to where you wanted to go. By the time you got to the venue or some other sim's house, you had lost several hours out of your sim's day, leaving you little room to do much else. That doesn't happen in TS4. You want your sim to show up at a club at 8pm and party till the break of dawn, get wiped out, then have time to go to work later that day completely refreshed (see my avatar )? You can do that now. You don't lost time when you travel to a venue.
2. There's a greater illusion of traveling. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but even though in open world you could literally go from place to place in a car, you never really felt as if you were going anywhere. You were still in the same town. But with open world, not only can you travel to towns that are very different in feel from each other, the loading screens add to the feeling that you're leaving your town to go some place else.
3. I like how spontaneous picnics break out in and around your hood and your sim can go out and have a chat/eat with other sims. It gives the game a very community-like feel.

So I'm really digging open neighborhood right now. Did I love open world in TS3? Of course I did (and still do). But I love open neighborhood as well.

HappySimmer3

They used many real world inspirations for TS3 worlds, and every one of them came with new rabbit hole and community buildings in a new style that matched. So personally I don't think TS4 is doing that any better, not when they are so specific with a style that everything has to match or else it sticks out (and not in a good way).

Voeille wrote: »

And yes, I’d like to have open world again, or at the very least open neighbourhoods, seeing a loading screen when your sim is maybe a sim-metre from the lot you just want to visit seems ridiculous and immersion-breaking.

I played Windenburg for the first time recently and when I sent my sim home from the library, she jogged all the way to her house - until she reached the edge of the lot, of course. It was one of the lamest things I've ever seen in a sims game. If I ever play agin I will just use the 'travel' interaction on the phone because if they're going to end up teleporting anyway might as well get right to it and not waste all that time jogging.

fullspiral

I love them too. Each little area can have it's own feel to it, let alone each "world" having it's own feel. Even though I can't see what my neighbours are doing, it still feels and looks more alive than sims 3.



It would be really cool if my sims could pop in to the art gallery retail down the street after the eat at the restaurant on the corner, but even so, I still like the way it is.

SimonSimpson

fullspiral wrote: »

It would be really cool if my sims could pop in to the art gallery retail down the street after the eat at the restaurant on the corner, but even so, I still like the way it is.

I like @simgirl1010 's suggestion of having each neighborhood open. Maybe there could be a settings toggle for it for those who don't care.

1upMushrooms

I'd also like to add that there should've been an option to link worlds together instead of having them all interconnected. For example, some sims from Oasis Springs popping up in Willow Creek; I don't know if it's just me, but I find that a bit odd. Maybe in the future there will be some kind of way to choose which worlds can be interconnected; this can be seen like the sub-neighborhood option in TS2. Of course, sims can still invite other sims over to their worlds (maybe this can tie in to the whole pen pal system the game already has) and some neighborhoods like Windenburg, for example, can be chosen by the player to link the two worlds together?

Unless there's already an option to disconnect sims from other worlds from showing up in another.

SimonSimpson

1upMushrooms wrote: »

I'd also like to add that there should've been an option to link worlds together instead of having them all interconnected. For example, some sims from Oasis Springs popping up in Willow Creek; I don't know if it's just me, but I find that a bit odd. Maybe in the future there will be some kind of way to choose which worlds can be interconnected; this can be seen like the sub-neighborhood option in TS2. Of course, sims can still invite other sims over to their worlds (maybe this can tie in to the whole pen pal system the game already has) and some neighborhoods like Windenburg, for example, can be chosen by the player to link the two worlds together?

Unless there's already an option to disconnect sims from other worlds from showing up in another.

This isn't really a general solution, but for your specific desire couldn't you go into the world and remove all houses and buildings from the town you don't want?

Allison18

SimonSimpson wrote: »

On the other hand, a brand new family in IP was almost as bad. I even upgraded my graphics card for that EP, but the gameplay was still choppy. I'm still using the same comp for Sims 4 that I used for Sims 3 IP, and the smoothness of gameplay is better at the same time that the aesthetics are better.

OMG I scoured forums to find the mega-list of all the lots with routing issues in IP, which you needed to delete so that it didn't crash or lag so badly it took an entire sim day to take the water taxi to the island. Again, I was playing on pretty good computer (not a gaming, but it was well above the requirements) and still experienced the lag that open world caused. But, you know, the fact that it was feasible for me to take a water taxi to an island to fish or shop, while also managing a sim at the library in the first place is pretty remarkable. IMO a closed world will never be better than an open world. But, TS4 closed worlds are more successful in some respects, to TS3's open world, in terms of stability, populated with sims, and in my experience, no lag however large or busy the lot is. Moving forward, they should add an open world back into the next iteration, because it's truly superior in terms of complex gameplay, activities, and sim management, but it also wasn't a poor choice for the worlds to be closed in TS4 because of the particular problems caused by TS3's open worlds.

Also, will open world return to TS4? I really doubt it. The game was not designed that way at all, and to change the current world state would be a complete overhaul of the system which I don't know is even possible.

JoAnne65

Spent a few hours enjoying Sims 4. That's right, I did. I have no idea if it will last, my sim is a scientist and I prefer that career to the police career. And she joined two clubs: knights and idols. Just exploring that so yeah, having fun. The world though, even when it's much better than Willow Creek and Oasis Springs (the space surrounding their lot is so much bigger and they can actually cross roads without a loading screen) simply doesn't look gorgeous to me because the colours are too sweet, the grass looks too much like paint, the trees too fake, the sea like blue jelly and the distance is too blueish and blurred. On top of that I zoomed in on the sheep and they don't move, apart from two of them, they glided. That was in fact a creepy experience, taking me by surprise as an unexpected twist in a horror movie. So much for detail. Nothing, simply nothing beats the open world experience of Sims 3 for me. That fine line between realism and idealizing reality a tiny bit. And the sense of living your sim's life in an actual world, an actual society. And I agree with the running of the screen. I don't mind travelling in 3 takes time because it's part of the open world experience and it feels like I'm playing a real life. Because travelling takes time, that's a sigificant characterstic of travelling. In Windenburg it just takes time without the sense of really travelling. On the other hand: it's a very clear sign of "we're listening" and that's much appreciated by me. So whenever my sim starts running home, I see a friendly dev winking at me, saying: "Yes, I acknowledge you miss open world and nothing beats it indeed, but this will have to do for now." For now.

teaa5

JoAnne65 wrote: »

Spent a few hours enjoying Sims 4. That's right, I did. I have no idea if it will last, my sim is a scientist and I prefer that career to the police career. And she joined two clubs: knights and idols. Just exploring that so yeah, having fun. The world though, even when it's much better than Willow Creek and Oasis Springs (the space surrounding their lot is so much bigger and they can actually cross roads without a loading screen) simply doesn't look gorgeous to me because the colours are too sweet, the grass looks too much like paint, the trees too fake, the sea like blue jelly and the distance is too blueish and blurred. On top of that I zoomed in on the sheep and they don't move, apart from two of them, they glided. That was in fact a creepy experience, taking me by surprise as an unexpected twist in a horror movie. So much for detail. Nothing, simply nothing beats the open world experience of Sims 3 for me. That fine line between realism and idealizing reality a tiny bit. And the sense of living your sim's life in an actual world, an actual society. And I agree with the running of the screen. I don't mind travelling in 3 takes time because it's part of the open world experience and it feels like I'm playing a real life. Because travelling takes time, that's a sigificant characterstic of travelling. In Windenburg it just takes time without the sense of really travelling. On the other hand: it's a very clear sign of "we're listening" and that's much appreciated by me. So whenever my sim starts running home, I see a friendly dev winking at me, saying: "Yes, I acknowledge you miss open world and nothing beats it indeed, but this will have to do for now." For now.

ducks look like a wooden hibernating creatures;)) if you zoom:)) they should add life and emotions to ducks too:) but seriously.. Agree... the traveling is not the same.. dam I do miss open words...

DegrassiGen

teaa5 wrote: »

JoAnne65 wrote: »

Spent a few hours enjoying Sims 4. That's right, I did. I have no idea if it will last, my sim is a scientist and I prefer that career to the police career. And she joined two clubs: knights and idols. Just exploring that so yeah, having fun. The world though, even when it's much better than Willow Creek and Oasis Springs (the space surrounding their lot is so much bigger and they can actually cross roads without a loading screen) simply doesn't look gorgeous to me because the colours are too sweet, the grass looks too much like paint, the trees too fake, the sea like blue jelly and the distance is too blueish and blurred. On top of that I zoomed in on the sheep and they don't move, apart from two of them, they glided. That was in fact a creepy experience, taking me by surprise as an unexpected twist in a horror movie. So much for detail. Nothing, simply nothing beats the open world experience of Sims 3 for me. That fine line between realism and idealizing reality a tiny bit. And the sense of living your sim's life in an actual world, an actual society. And I agree with the running of the screen. I don't mind travelling in 3 takes time because it's part of the open world experience and it feels like I'm playing a real life. Because travelling takes time, that's a sigificant characterstic of travelling. In Windenburg it just takes time without the sense of really travelling. On the other hand: it's a very clear sign of "we're listening" and that's much appreciated by me. So whenever my sim starts running home, I see a friendly dev winking at me, saying: "Yes, I acknowledge you miss open world and nothing beats it indeed, but this will have to do for now." For now.

ducks look like a wooden hibernating creatures;)) if you zoom:)) they should add life and emotions to ducks too:) but seriously.. Agree... the traveling is not the same.. dam I do miss open words...

Hey now what about them cardboard mountains...mmm mmm....makes me want to get a box of crayons by yours truly (Crayola) and a cardboard box by Home Depot and start coloring followed by cut out shapes that form the rocky mountains! Nothing says "I love my Sims" more then cutting out a cardboard shape of Mount Rushmore and telling your Sims that you will not be going to it just admiring the 2 for 1 sale from afar! Ahh! Cardboard is the new sexy!

teaa5

DegrassiGen wrote: »

teaa5 wrote: »

JoAnne65 wrote: »

Spent a few hours enjoying Sims 4. That's right, I did. I have no idea if it will last, my sim is a scientist and I prefer that career to the police career. And she joined two clubs: knights and idols. Just exploring that so yeah, having fun. The world though, even when it's much better than Willow Creek and Oasis Springs (the space surrounding their lot is so much bigger and they can actually cross roads without a loading screen) simply doesn't look gorgeous to me because the colours are too sweet, the grass looks too much like paint, the trees too fake, the sea like blue jelly and the distance is too blueish and blurred. On top of that I zoomed in on the sheep and they don't move, apart from two of them, they glided. That was in fact a creepy experience, taking me by surprise as an unexpected twist in a horror movie. So much for detail. Nothing, simply nothing beats the open world experience of Sims 3 for me. That fine line between realism and idealizing reality a tiny bit. And the sense of living your sim's life in an actual world, an actual society. And I agree with the running of the screen. I don't mind travelling in 3 takes time because it's part of the open world experience and it feels like I'm playing a real life. Because travelling takes time, that's a sigificant characterstic of travelling. In Windenburg it just takes time without the sense of really travelling. On the other hand: it's a very clear sign of "we're listening" and that's much appreciated by me. So whenever my sim starts running home, I see a friendly dev winking at me, saying: "Yes, I acknowledge you miss open world and nothing beats it indeed, but this will have to do for now." For now.

ducks look like a wooden hibernating creatures;)) if you zoom:)) they should add life and emotions to ducks too:) but seriously.. Agree... the traveling is not the same.. dam I do miss open words...

Hey now what about them cardboard mountains...mmm mmm....makes me want to get a box of crayons by yours truly (Crayola) and a cardboard box by Home Depot and start coloring followed by cut out shapes that form the rocky mountains! Nothing says "I love my Sims" more then cutting out a cardboard shape of Mount Rushmore and telling your Sims that you will not be going to it just admiring the 2 for 1 sale from afar! Ahh! Cardboard is the new sexy!

ahahhah:)) not quite there yet;)))) still admiring these little wooden fellas;))) waiting for them to come alive one day:))) Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut.. I might start coloring soon too:)) Now I know where to go for supplies:)))) eheheh

DegrassiGen

I can see the headlines now @teaa5 "Simmers Line Up At Home Depot To Add More Cardboard To Their Game" followed by a two day later headline stating "Simmers Upset They Cannot Stuff Cardboard Into Their PC/Laptop Game Through Screen. Cries Have Been Heard By Complaining Neighbors of Ridiculous Noise"

teaa5

and then " Simmers decided to build the sim series in the real world, using cardboards, wooden ducks and gliding lifeless sheep" " Home Depot runs out of supplies";)))))