Thoughts on The Sims 4?

I'm really trying very hard not to buy this game. Can anybody that has it please reaffirm my belief that I should wait on reviews? Help me GS!

@airshocker: I can let ya know soon. I got The Sims 4 Premium Edition for free. It should be here sooner than that date because it's only like a few towns away.

Don't be surprised if the reviews aren't particurly happy about it.

I haven't played it, nor do I plan to anytime soon. The reviews won't be great because the game has been stripped of content.

Well... Have you seen this list?

• No open world, there are loading screens when moving between lots. And the map is just a 2D image.
• Even with that^ the town is much smaller than TS3.
• No toddlers. They just stay in your inventory until they grow up.
• No pools.
• No cars.
• No CAS (Create a Style)
• No story progression for everyone in the town. They age and stuff, but they dont have children, get married, get jobs, move, etc..
• +60 other missing features...

You can check the list for the rest. The first 2 sections (Missing, Cutback features) are confirmed. The third section (other missing elements) is being confirmed by people in that thread who have the game, but the majority of it is true. The game is a step backwards from TS3 in every way. We should not support EA with this crap they're doing.

Oh please. This is clearly a must buy.

@k3ck said:

@airshocker: I can let ya know soon. I got The Sims 4 Premium Edition for free. It should be here sooner than that date because it's only like a few towns away.

What's with you showing screenshots of things you order and that they are in transit?

No one cares.

My wife is a big Sims fan. As soon as she saw all the missing features, she thought "oh oh, here comes another Sim City".

She's going to use the money she had saved for Sims 4 to finish buying all the expansions for Sims 3. You get more for less money.

@FelipeInside: Why are you getting mad over nothing? If you don't care then don't make a comment. Instead of posting unnecessary garbage that has nothing to do with the thread you should try posting something useful that at the very least pertains to the thread. Do you have nothing better to do with your life other then shitpost every thread you possibly can?

@airshocker: Sorry about the above...back to the topic! Try watching some streams of it on http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/The%20Sims%204

Some of the streamers were coming up with some hilarious things to do. I found it highly entertaining.

You mean like screenshots of deliveries you are expecting?

I'm not mad either, I just don't understand why you need to (this is the 3rd topic where you have done it).

And btw I did post something relating to the thread if you had cared to read all the posts.

@FelipeInside: You're getting upset over screenshots that are relevant to the thread. Jesus christ wtf is wrong with you dude? Do you murder people that look at you the wrong way? How can something so minor bother you so much?

EDIT: OH LOOK THE SIMS 4 JUST ARRIVED IN A TOWN CLOSER TO ME. Looks like I will have it tomorrow. I will report back sometime tomorrow with my thoughts. I've been playing this series since the first so I can give a more than fair assessment. Being that I got it for free doesn't hurt either, I won't be biased in trying to justify my (non-existent) purchase.

Oh god you must be absolutelyfurious now. Please don't hurt me.

The amount of stuff they cut is a complete joke. No open world? tiny maps? No pools? **** you EA, Why the hell would I buy that? I'll stick to playing The Sims 3, which is a far superior game right now.

@Toxic-Seahorse: Honestly, who really cares about pools? I can understand it's kinda shitty they took it out for no real reason but "BAWWW MY SIMS CAN'T SWIM!"...come the **** on lol. The only fun thing about pools was drowning people anyways. I'm sure we can find new and more creative ways to kill sims. But yeah The Sims 4 seems like a huge downgrade but I'm sure there's still some fun to be had. Watching streams on Twitch was really entertaining and had me laughing hard at some of the shit people were coming up with.

Well I'm not a fan, but my daughter is and I bought it for her. She seemed pretty damn pleased with the game.

@k3ck said:

@FelipeInside: You're getting upset over screenshots that are relevant to the thread. Jesus christ wtf is wrong with you dude? Do you murder people that look at you the wrong way? How can something so minor bother you so much?

EDIT: OH LOOK THE SIMS 4 JUST ARRIVED IN A TOWN CLOSER TO ME. Looks like I will have it tomorrow. I will report back sometime tomorrow with my thoughts. I've been playing this series since the first so I can give a more than fair assessment. Being that I got it for free doesn't hurt either, I won't be biased in trying to justify my (non-existent) purchase.

Oh god you must be absolutelyfurious now. Please don't hurt me.

Um, ok. Like I said I don't get angry on the internet with random strangers, I just asked a question why you feel the need to show people (with screenshots as proof) that you bought 2 overpriced SSDs, and that you got Sims 4 Premium for free. Is it some kind of inferiority complex or am I looking into it too much?

If you don't want to answer and prefer to just deviate from the question that's fine, let it be then.

@FelipeInside: You're looking into too much/are envious. Why even make a comment about it in the first place? Who gives a shit. Just stick to the topic.

Not envious at all but maybe I am looking into it too much.
Why make a comment? I didn't, I asked a question which you have clearly decided not to address. I'll take my leave then.

I care about pools, and I'm sure many others do. But it's not just about the pools, if it was just that missing then it would've been slightly fine.. It's about all the 60 or so missing things that we already had in the previous game. Releasing a sequel that's missing the majority of what the series already had is definitely not acceptable by any means. They already did that crap with SimCity, and now it's The Sims turn, and if we keep supporting this kind of practice it will only get worse.

People got angry because TS3 didn't include the things added in TS2 expansions... Now it's gotten to the point of removing content from the base game as well, which is probably coming as DLCs later on. This needs to stop.

Sorry, but I'm not supporting a company that just removes beloved features so damn much. It's not just pools, it a giant amount of stuff. You can reward them for milking the hell out of us if you want, but I'll keep playing the vastly better game that is The Sims 3.

@harry_james_pot: @Toxic-Seahorse: I'm not supporting them. I haven't given them a penny. All I'm saying is that game could still be fun regardless of all the crap they've taken out. Instead of just reading and dwelling on some copy & paste that's spread all over you should make your own opinions from playing it instead of hive-minding. I'm not saying the game is good or that them taking out so many things is okay, it's not. All I'm saying is maybe the game might not be as horrid as everyone (who hasn't played it) is making it out to be. From what I watched on the streams it actually seemed pretty entertaining and if anything to complain about, too similar to the others. The game is clearly not intended for the hardcore crowd (which I assume most of us are) so most won't even realize all the missing stuff. This is more of a "I'll buy this for my girlfriend/daughter/wife and **** around with it once in a while". Personally I enjoy the building aspects the most and like seeing what sort of stuff I can come up with and I can have fun with that and ignore most of the other crap.

tl;dr: It's probably bad but hey, you might be able to have some fun with it. I try to avoid the hate train with all and any games and go in with an open mind. I don't like to judge anything before I play it no matter how grim it looks, which in this case is pretty damn bad. Will The Sims 4 probably be worse than better? Yeah.

While I understand what you're saying, unfortunately I don't have the money to waste to purchase a game just to see if it's as bad as it sounds/looks.

@Toxic-Seahorse: Oh yeah I agree with you there lol. I wouldn't have spent any money on it, at the very least not until seeing some credible reviews.

The fact that there's a review embargo after the games release is really strange. I can't think of any recent games that have done that and to me that's not a good sign.

@FelipeInside: You were rude by saying "no on cares" and also by speaking for every single person on this forum. Anyways it's over and I surely don't care. No hard feelings <3

It's different when people are hating on a game because of their opinion. Like for example how some people said Bioshock Infinite sucks because of the story, that's just an opinion, and a lot of people liked the story. It's with things like that your point applies, that you have to do some research and not ride the hate train blindly.
But with TS4, people aren't saying the game sucks.. They are listing facts about what's missing from the game, it's not an opinion. Sure, maybe whatever is left in the game is fun but it doesn't matter, all that missing content remains missing and that's what's wrong. Anyone that buys the game is basically telling them that we're ok with that sort of practice, that they can keep stripping away content and making us pay for it later and we won't mind.

And it's interesting that you mentioned the building part, because that's my favorite part of the game as well, I mostly build and decorate houses. And you know what? Some of the missing things directly affect that, like no basements, no CAS, smaller lots, no pools, no terrain tools, fewer floors.

Is that list confirmed? Were all those features really cut out?

If so then NO ONE should buy this game. It's basically a quarter of the game TS3 was just so they can sell you DLC.

As I said the "Major Missing" and "Cutbacks" sections are confirmed, and users are still going through the "Other missing features" section to see what's really missing. You can check the thread, but so far the only thing that turned out to be in the game is dreams, while a lot of those minor things already got confirmed.

• No toddlers: "I mainly only play to build, I can live without toddlers"
• No pools: "I guess I will have to make a square pond"
• No ponds; "I guess I will have to make a square hole and paint it blue"
• No terrain tools: "Aggghhhhhhhhh"
• No cars: "Aggghhhhhhhhh"
• No dishwashers: "With pools out and now dishwashers, why don't they just say 'no mansions'.
• No CaSt: "Aggghhhhhhhhh"
• No Open World: "I can live, but I'm not happy"
• Loading screens within the sections of the neighborhood as well as for lots: "Aggghhhhhhhhh"
• Flat 2D World: "Aggghhhhhhhhh"
• Did I mention that the flat 2d world was tiny?: "Aggghhhhhhhhh"
• All structures must be either on or off a foundation, no variation: "That's the final straw" oh and "Aggghhhhhhhhh".

CONCLUSION: Long live The Sims 3

total garbage

EA and it's greed has murdered yet another franchise....

Reviews are coming in. Average score so far. I might sell mine for a quick $80 profit. It's supposed to come in the mail today. I dunno man...

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-sims-4

I've known all about the removed features for months, but this is the first I've heard of no terrain tools....**** this game. Long live TS3

Wow. Bad review from The Escapist. I'll be avoiding this game like the plague. Thankfully I held my resolve and didn't buy it.

I had it pre ordered then i cancelled my pre order.

I wouldn't bother, your better off getting all the Sims 3 content.

I never liked games like this. What's the point? Plus it's EA so you know that if you buy it now you'll also have to pay double what you pay for the OG game to get all the DLC content that should have been included at release. Don't support sleazy business practices.

That nailed my feelings down. I've spent days buildings houses in 3, shaping the terrain, making cool hidden rooms, or making a new handcrafted office for my sim to work at.....nope, lets rip it all away and make tiny lots, tiny towns, and throw load screens between it all and remove all the innovation.

It's interesting to see this game still receive a lot of positive reviews. I've been watching live streams and I'm completely shocked at how barebones of a game it is. It's The Sims with less features than the first one... I'm surprised this is actually a retail Origin game and not a plugin on Facebook.

I bought it and think its pretty good, but I dont play the Sims for all that long or as serious as you ment to. I normally create a scenario, screw around, cheat or use creative mode and instantly build a kick ass house.

I can understand genuine Sims fans will be disappointed, there is a lot of content missing, this is EA I think they will keep adding what people want with pricey DLC packages costing about the same price as the game at full retail.

It's funny how you single out the absolute worst review it has received so far. We get it, you like hating games.

Reviews are supposed to be critical, aren't they?

EA decided to use the SimCity engine for the game, which is ironically named something like "glass". The engine is completely rigid, it does not allow for variations in terrain height or depth which is why there are no pools and terrain tools availible, the engine simply can't handle it.

This seriously feels like a Sims 1 with revamped graphics (which aren't even nearly as good as any other 2014 game). I'm gonna have to stick with Sims 3. I have Sims 2 ultimate edition but I can't stand how sims either have a completely square face or a triangular one...So yeah I'm just gonna save up the money from the Sims 4 and buy the missing expansions for the Sims 3.

Sad to see EA falling into this shit.

Of course but going on Metacritic and scrolling all the way down to the absolute worst review just so you can jump on the trendy hate train is dumb.

It's not the worst review, there are multiple reviews giving the game that score...

Maybe Airshocker just likes The Escapist because their opinion's usually line up most with his?

Actually, I cited a review from a website that I believe credibly reviews games.

Which games have I hated on, specifically? Because it seems like you're talking out of your ass for some reason.

@k3ck: wtf is wrong with you?

I didn't go on Metacritic, you presumptuous douche.

Yes, from places no one has even heard of. The Escapist is the only credible one giving it that score.

Yup and the fact that they completely had cut the cars and bikes how could the sims 4 be an life simulation. And honestly after watching some gamplay some of the Sims look nasty :/

My wife finally caved in and bought it (she also bought the leftover Sims3 expansions she needed).

Now I'm no Sims player, but she is and has been playing since part 1 so I trust her judgement.

Sims 4 IS a cut down version of Sims 3, with things like not able to fully explore the map (with loading screens inbetween?), makes you wonder what the devs were thinking. Saying that, she says that it has some new features which are pretty good and a great addition, but it needs DLC pretty soon or else she will get bored fast.

Played it for a little longer today, those loading screens every time you go to a different area are a pain. I had to re-install the game onto my SSD drive to make it bearable.

What a feature to add, Loading times hahah

Question for the loading screens is WHY?

If it was because it loaded a heaps new huge area then fair enough, but it's just loading another house which before was real-time without the loading screen, so I just don't understand.