Is this an event you initiated or an NPC Sim ?
Also did you never have mods in or remove them ?
EDIT: If it's an NPC event, that's how it works. They have no goal. Timer is just to show how much time is left.
It's my PC Sim with an NPC Sim. Of course NPC Sim's are involved during the new "Welcome to the Neighborhood/Here! Have a Fruitcake!" event because that is who welcomes my PC Sim.
When my PC Sim asks an NPC Sim on a date and the event starts I am just getting a timer. At the end I get the "Never call me again" dialog because I was unable to earn even a bronze medal I suppose though this is only a guess since I am unable to see the goals list.
If your PC Sim initiates a party, you get goals (so if your PC Sim ask a NPC Sim on a date, you should get goals). The welcome party on the other hand seems to only get a time since they are basically initiated by the NPCs. NPC initiated parties don't have goals, only a timer.
The message that the party failed is a bug, that already has a thread though.
So, I hope I understand you correctly (English is not my mother tongue), that you had an event where your played Sim invited someone else on a date (PC or NPC doesn't matter) and you didn't get goals on that ?
It's all about if you invite someone or if you get invited
EDIT: Sorry, posted this before I saw your answer. Above still applies though
We posted at the same time! Yes! I just did not know NPC initiated events were without goals...which is silly. It was the NPCs birthday party but my PC was unable to do anything to improve upon it. The NPC did ask my PC on a date too! It was a first so....
Well anyways...I hope the development team works on NPC initiated events otherwise what's the point?
The the NPC initiated date caused a loss in the romantic bar because it was a failure. :/
The failure part is most probably a bug.
You can post here about that: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4-Bug-Reports/NPC-Social-Events-always-end-badly/td-p/4545434/
I do kinda see the no goals part. After all it's the NPC that basically has the 'goals'. It's their party, not yours.
This is happening in my game when my PC sim tries to host any event. He tried to host a Dance Party and there were no goals, but since that was a recent expansion I thought maybe there just weren't goals associated with the dance party event. Then, I tried to have the PC Sims host a dinner party. He's hosted them before. But that also did not generate any goals, just the timer. He was unable to get any trophy. I have no mods installed.
