Frequent Issues Within My Game
I'm just going to list several issues I've seen while playing Sims 4.
- Eating meals: Instead of using the dining room table like I'd like for my sims to, they sometimes will eat on the couch, eat outside at a picnic table of some sort, or one of the most recent ones I've seen, eat at the edge of the pool. My sims will actually change outfits into their swimwear and plop down at the edge of the pool to eat. I don't like this. I want to be able to control my sims and make them eat where I want them to eat. With the amount of lag I deal with, it's frustrating trying to get my sims away from the undesired location their eating at and move them to where I want them to be.
- Pet's wants/needs: I feel as though the pets get too needy. I mostly have dogs for my sims, so I can't say much for other pets, but my sims dogs are constantly walking around with their heads drooped, moping and such. I understand that just means they need attention of some sort, but when you have a large household, it becomes difficult to continuously stop tasks for sims to ensure that the dog gets a treat. I just wished it was minimized, that's all.
- NPC house mannerisms: I absolutely cannot stand it when I invite an NPC over to my sim's house and they march up the stairs to go into my sim's personal bedroom to play on the computer. Another example would be NPCs using exercise equipment. Kind of weird to do when you just walked through the front door. I know that door's can be locked to prevent this, but what if I want my sim and an NPC to woohoo? I'd then have to unlock the door and pray that the NPC wouldn't, for example, get on the computer afterwards. It's a hassle.
- Bad relationships: This isn't too much of a concern for me as it just adds drama to the storyline I've got going on with my household, but my female sim just recently broke off their engagement to a male sim, whom they share a child with. Within a few days, there was a holiday and I invited several guests over including the father of the child. He refused to come due to the bad relationship between him and the female sim. Again, not too much of an issue, but I'm sure there are simmers out there who'd wish that they'd show up anyway just for the child. Am I to expect that the father will be 100% absent in that child's life? Do I really need to repair the relationship of the female and male to a friendly level for the sake of a child? I just want some realism.
- Dramatic emotions: I'm aware that some if not most simmers actually enjoy the drama that come's with emotions, but personally, I feel that it's too much. I don't like that when I have a hotheaded sim and he/she gets angry, they are seething, visibly so. I'm talking marching/stomping around with tense body language and dramatic facial expressions. It's not realistic (unless it's maybe a child sim) and not what I'd expect of a "life simulation" game. It's "cartoon-ey." Childlike even. It would be awesome if there was a way to toggle the intensity for those who aren't a fan of how overwhelmed the sims actually get. I just want a frustrated state, not some "I HATE THE WORLD AND IT NEEDS TO KNOW IT" sim.
- CAS outfits categories: Not an issue I have faced, but an idea - it'd be awesome to have the ability to copy and paste certain outfits between categories. An example that I'm positive most simmers would love is makeup. Being forced to redo makeup over and over for each outfit category is an absolute pain and one of the things I dread about CAS. Piercings and other accessories too! No one wants to spend hours in CAS trying to make their sims look good. We want to minimize the time there and get to gameplay, so why not make it easier? Copying and pasting outfits, accessories, makeup, etc. would be great! And if at all possible, I'd like to have more outfit options - the ability to create more outfits like "3 everyday outfits" or "2 cold weather outfits". For example, I could have an active sim who wants to play basketball, but their "active/sportswear" outfit is meant for like yoga or something. Again, with the amount of lag I face, it's not enjoyable to go to a dresser or whatnot and "plan" an outfit. Loading time sucks.
- Lag: I'm pretty sure I've read that this is something the team is already working on, but I just wanted to ensure that my voice is heard as well. The lag is insane. The lag to boot up the game, the lag to wait on my sims household to load, the lag that follows afterwards once my sims appear on screen (can't play for a couple minutes due to the amount of lag), the lag that'll happen when I want my sim to do a task, the lag that happens from live mode to build mode... I could go on. I even face lag trying to exit the game after saving and go back to the homescreen. It's too much time. I want to enjoy my game without waiting on everything to load.
These are just some of the issues I've personally seen, but there are so many more worth mentioning. I'm sure they're covered by other simmers here on the forum so I won't make this list unbearable. The last issue I will note is the broken expansion packs. I cannot believe how many are actually worthless due to the lack of functionality of them. There are expansion packs that I'd love to purchase (Dine Out, Discover University, My Wedding Stories) but won't because I'm not paying like $30-40 for something that doesn't even work. I think they're overpriced anyway, even if they actually worked the way it was intended, but I'd still buy it (with the idea that the packs work well) for the sake of gameplay. These expansion packs, stuff packs, and kits are pushed out way too early because the developers are money hungry. Bad content = loss of consumers. Don't need to go to business school for that one. I'd hope that I can expect Sims 5 to not be so money hungry. Otherwise I'll enjoy playing other life simulation games like "Life By You".
I appreciate you taking the time to read this and I'd hope that at least one of these issues are solved (I'm sure the team has a lot on their plate trying to fix bugs and whatnot). Thank you!
