Thoughts on The Sims 4?

sims 4 is built from the leftover scraps from a sims mmo redo, probably wasnt made with open cities as a thing.

Would explain it but still, even in an MMO sort of situation you shouldn't need the loading screen when Sims3 did it without it.

Saying that, I still wonder why The Sims hasn't come out as an MMO. If done right it could be grand.

I was cautiously optimistic about the game with some of the stuff shown. I wasnt really too fussed with pools and lack of toddlers, since I always preferred nicer smaller homes, or just apartment-like environments. But then stuff leaked about some features.

The lack of open world was the blow that killed any remaining interest I had with the game. I just love the seamlessness of running from the park and then going to a cafe in game or something in Sims 3 and possibly stumbling across stuff or another sim on the way. That seems to be gone.

I probably wont consider getting this game until a couple of years time to see how it developed with further expansions.

So Sims 3 used Mono for scripting (which helps explain why the game was so unstable once you released more than a few expansions) and Sims 4 was written in Python.

Can EA get anything right, what makes them keep doing stupid decisions like this?

Because it would have to be edited to the point where it may no longer even resemble the Sims and be a the sims game in name only.

Nah, just imagine a sort of MMO where you create your sim, and then you live in a persistent world with other players (other sims).

Then as expansions they release other places to travel and visit, like Europe, South America, Africa, the Moon etc. Heck, the normal Sims game even has quests.

Something like Second Life is probably the closest thing to a Sims Online game.

Wouldnt work. A lot of playing the sims is relying on the time skip feature, no one wants to sit there forever while their sim is at work. This feature would be almost impossible for them to implement in an mmo.

EA is shameless.. You would think they would have learned their lesson after the massive failure of latest Sim City installment in wrecking a classic series.. It just illustrates that the company, like many in the gaming industry, are ran by a bunch of executive hacks that do not know anything about gaming..

there was one...and it had loading between all lots

@harry_james_pot:

Not true not true not true..There are cars, though u cant buy them yet.There is the baby its in the crib, grows to a kid in three days..Honestly the toddler was cute but i never played it that much always got the toddler to a kid..The loading screen isnt that bad..Its got every thing the sims3 had a few taken out true no pools..No garages yet..No death, they do age..Its like back to the sims 1 which i kind of like and a mix of sims 3.. Although careers is really lacking i dont know why they did this..No cops no fire dept no doctors hopefully they will be added with a patch or a expansion to be really cool..Games not to bad, im enjoying it for what it is..Its got a kind of story thing going..Your sim needs to work on stuff.Like my wifes girl in the sim is a tech guru..She has to get programming skill up an mod 2 games..Also she has a cook for a husband..He has to earn mixoligy points an also cookin skill.Gardening is in also, fishing is there..Do i like the sims 3 model better yes but its not a bad game at all..Im getting used to it..

Open World is limited because if it was open world, then Simulation would be broken. Too much is going on at the same time. In The Sims 3 it worked but when you get older then in city nothing really changes.

Im sure most PC gamers has problem with running this game. So, one day when everyone has powerful PC, then they can make it Open world without having loading scenes and make everything work fine. This just takes massive ram and good PC to have open world Sims 4 and have all new features working.

Yeah, Sims Online but back then the loading screen was expected because the technology wasn't there yet for big maps without loading.

What are you talking about? Sims 4 has better optimization than Sims 3 therefore more PCs will be able to run it, and Sims 3 had open world map without loading so why wouldn't Sims 4?

There are cars? Where? And what's even the point of cars if you're teleporting around the map.. >_>

The baby is just an object, there is no interactions like we had before. An entire phase of a sim's life was scrapped.

And it's not about the loading screens themselves, it's about what they mean... Before you could just get out of the house, go for a walk, meet some random people, etc.. You never knew what could happen. All that is gone. They completely killed the feeling that you're living in a town and a part of it, that when you're at home the whole town is still.. happening without you. You know that they removed story progression right? All the other sims have no story, they don't get married, they don't have babies, they don't do anything..

....What? even my old PC can max out TS3 and run it just fine.. And the "new features" in TS4 are some improvement in sim behaviour and interaction, that's all.

After watching my wife play Sims4 and then also Sims3 and showing me each game and it's features, I have to agree with Harry James, Sims 4 is a step BACKWARDS.

It feels more limited (and not because of lack of DLC), and less seamless in the world.

The positive things I can say about Sims 4 though, apart from the new improvements in behavior and interaction, is the ENGINE. It loads 5 times quicker than Sims 3, looks better and runs hell of a lot smoother (Sims 3 still suffers from some screen lag to this day).

I was really positive about Sims 4 because I thought they would optimize the engine (like they did) and then add more to what Sims 3 was. It's not the end of the world either though, they can still fix it but somehow removing the loading screens and adding stuff quickly.

About the lack of open world, the game is stuck with that. They can't flip a switch and bring it back, it'll take a lot of work and it was a design choice to begin with. Even with the game's current status it'll still sell, and that's the only thing EA cares about. I keep hearing people say "it's fine, all the content will be back as DLCs".. -___- They have no problem with being robbed like that.

With the content as DLC, well.... to be honest Sims was always like that since Sims 1. You got a base game, and then they released lots of content through DLC or expansion boxes.

As for the loading screens, have a listen to what this guys says about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXLEAHpzFks

He talks about the loading screens past halfway but it's good to watch the whole video on his take. I sort of agree with him and also disagree. Wish we could have the new features of content but seamless.

I know they always resell DLCs, but this time they took out things from the base game as well.

He says the open world is gone to add more things near you, which does not really make sense. TS3 ran fine with open world 5 years ago, how can we not keep that while adding more things? Which is a real shame because things like multitasking and room editing sounds great. :/
kinda like what happened with SimCity. 10 years ago I could build huge cities and whatever I wanted, and now I'm limited to a small town? 0_o

Yes, it would have been great to have both.

I've had the day off work today so I've been playing both Sims 3 (+ all expansions) and also Sims 4 (on my wife's account).

Both have their pros and cons but what delights me is the new engine for Sims4, it's amazing how much better and smoother it looks, and loads in seconds. Sims 3 took forever.

It's good that you're enjoying it, but the open world removal just kills it for me regardless of how good the other things are.

I wouldn't say I'm enjoying it, lol.... I've never been a fan of the Sims cause I just don't understand the game, hahahaha. I play for like 30min and then don't know what to do, lol.

Have you played Sims4 though yet?

I scrapped my desktop and am rebuilding it, but I'm going back through my S3 screens and comparing to everything from TS4 and the new visual style is really killing me....such a step backwards. And this entire city I made...and inside the houses, Sims 4 has no real detail to it.

I actually prefer the look of Sims4. It's cleaner, smoother, the UI is better and well, the engine runs a lot more optimized.

For Sims3 I put everything on highest setting but the grass always looked weird, as did some textures and jaggies. I realize it's an older game but there's just something OFF on it in my books. Also, the loading screens......sooooooooo much wait.

I played another game while TS3 loaded #JustMasterRaceThings

I did get to umm... try it. Only played for an hour and it made me feel completely trapped.

@wis3boi said:

I scrapped my desktop and am rebuilding it, but I'm going back through my S3 screens and comparing to everything from TS4 and the new visual style is really killing me....such a step backwards. And this entire city I made...and inside the houses, Sims 4 has no real detail to it.

Now I want to reinstall it again..

You would of thought that after like 12 expansions they could have fixed the loading times, lol...

So I'm trying to play Sims4. (I've never really played a Sims game that much).

What's the point to these games? Like do they have missions or something or it's just earning money and decorating your home?

Well, there are different types of Sims players. Some, like me, are all about building. The game let's you build houses and decorate them, and I find that really fun. I barely spend any time with the sims themselves, I just keep moving them to the new houses that I build. :D You can also take that to the next level and build an entire town, which seems like what @wis3boi is doing.

You can also make a family and focus on them. Each sim has a lifetime achievement, and wishes that keeps changing and adding up. So you can try to make them successful and make sure that they achieve what they want. It simulates life so you can do anything, get them married, make friends, anything really.. And since they have children it's basically endless. It might sound boring but if you have the time it's quite fun.
You can even make multiple families, place them around your town, and while you control your main family all the other ones will do things and change. (Not in TS4 though, everyone expect you does nothing.)

In TS3 there was also that sense of moving up as you get more successful.. Because a bigger TV provided more channels thus more entertainment, an expensive PC lets you do more things than a cheap one, and so on.. As you started to make more money, you bought better stuff for you sims and it made them more happy, it made a difference and provided a nice sense of progress.
That one is gone from TS4 though. As the video you linked yesterday points out, they can now do pretty much anything from their phones, which you get at the start of the game. >_>

Cool. I've been playing for the last hour and it's true, time flies cause you think you're not doing much.

I just created myself to start with, not ready to control more than one character. I don't mind Sims4, the engine is so smooth and quick, and the loading screens don't really get to me that much to be honest but I can see where it's lacking a few things from Sims3. (mind you, Sims4 with a few expansions will probably be good).

Only thing I hate is how fast the time goes. I get back from work and then just can do a few things before I have to go to sleep.

Perks, rewards and improved furniture lets you do more and more every day. In the case of sims 3, faster vehicles and living closer to work makes life easier too.

Oh and higher job ranks usually result in less work days and hours.

My sim version of me is a space explorer, lets you do a lot of neat stuff. Can go to the space station, get in my ship, collect meteorites, take interstellar photos and hang them in my house. Feels like he's living inside Star Citizen :P

That sounds awesome like hell.

Presumably, the devs had ambitions that turned out to be just completely unrealistic and had to scramble to make an actual game. Despite this, whichever EA exec thought it okay to release the game in the current state should be fired - no excuses.

I'm sure, in the long run, they will fix it - at least if they plan on continuing to cash in on the most successful PC game in history.

What do you mean by current state?

It's the most stable Sims to date and has the best performing engine of all past versions.

That's interesting because this is the only Sims game I've seen with a million "bug" videos on Youtube. Even livestreamers I occasionally watch run into a dozen bugs in their hour or two of play time.

Or maybe he's referring to the minimal amounts of content?

I am disappointed with TS4, i was so excited before i played it because of the trailer. Then i played it, waste of money. Sims 3 is better in any aspect.

The GS review is up, Kevin gave it a 6. (he gave TS3 a 9, btw)

Well that's why I asked.

ALL Sims games have had bugs, especially at launch (example for Sims3: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/Sims-3-Errors-Glitches-Bugs-amp-Problems-Without-Working/td-p/1229586). Sims 3 to this day still doesn't perform as it should even with a beefy computer.

The engine of Sims 4 though works so well, smooth and stable. Heck, I thought my wife would have issues running it on her laptop but she gets constant great framerate.

Content is another matter entirely.

Ouch.

Well my girlfriend plays it, even she says its nothing special about it

You let your girlfriend buy The Sims 4? Should've told her to stick with 2 or 3 :o

You're going to be buying her DLC packs in no time...

Did u guys here what maxis said what a joke..If the sims 4 doesnt sell well we will never make another sims game again..Right, its eas money maker..They new they messed up than they have the balls to say this..What happen to eas we are for the people..So you mean to say if sims4 flops..You wont make a proper sims5 an do it right with out online crap..This is like if diablo failed blizzard they would never make that again..Its a cash cow for them..No other game sells well with the ladies..