What makes the AI so great?

"Rflong7;c-16535762" wrote:
Build your house better. Where's the bathroom counter? Is it closer? Is it better? Why do you have an empty bathroom counter close to the table?

Whilst I agree with this fundamentally, I don't think Maxis considered their own AI when building houses, because a lot of the Maxis-built houses suffer from this problem. I've noticed when playing on pre-furnished Maxis-built lots with some oddly placed counters and tables, that Sims tend to go for them instead of kitchen counters and dining room tables.

"Rflong7;c-16535762" wrote:
Sims are dumb... this isn't a game where you just plot a Sim down and expect it to do everything while you watch. Especially if you think there are "more important things for them to do." -imo

I play TS2 because TS4 is boring. TS2 is not boring.

I feel you here. TS4 has this issue when you can plop a sim down with autonomy on, and they'll basically never die. Partially because the needs fall way too slowly, and partially because it's way too hard to die in TS4 without actually purposefully killing them, for whatever reason. I have like 60hrs in TS4 and only one random death, and that was via laughing. I like more spontaneous deaths like that because it makes the game more realistic. If all sims died via old age, it wouldn't really portray real life well. In real life, some people just die young. That's life.

"SimFan298;c-16536719" wrote:
And I'd prefer it if they cleaned up on their own, since I have multiple Sims I have to keep an eye on, and I would prefer the kitchen to not be a "death by flies" hazard... maybe I could just hire a maid, now that I'm typing this out.

You basically answered your own issue. Hire a maid. :tongue:

In all honesty though, Death by Flies should basically never happen in regular game play. You need at least 9 dirty plates piled up in the same room, and even then it's only a chance to happen, but much more likely with low needs. The Death by Flies death is essentially just a punishment for people who don't look after their sims or their environment, and I don't see anything wrong with that personally.

Besides, as other people have said, in this game sims choose to do actions autonomously based on their personality points. I think this is why people are saying they think the game has good AI. If your sim has high neatness, they will autonomously clean up.

"jackjack_k;c-16536795" wrote:
The Sims 2 Sims have bad pathfinding, they don't prioritise needs, it's almost impossible to give them a huge queue because they drop most of it for no reason.

I do however agree with this. Except for the "drop things in a queue for no reason". There usually is a reason. Stairs are a particularly bad problem from my experience. If a sim can't get up the stairs because someone is walking down them already, or a dumb townie is stood at the top of them blocking the way, he or she will drop all actions in his or her queue instead of waiting for the other sim to get out of the way. TS4 is definitely smarter in that regard.

And whilst sims don't prioritise needs as much as in the later games, I'd also argue that it's your job to be looking after your sims and not the game's. But really, that point has little to do with the quality of the AI.

Really, when it comes to what you think of the AI, it depends what you're looking for. TS4's AI is kind of programmed to essentially play the game for you, and I don't like that at all personally, I find it boring.