What Happened to The Sims We Loved?

Sims 4 has been much better balanced the last...like, 6 years. They've been doing a lot better with the game requiring actual effort. Motives decay too slowly, but that's about it TBH. A lot of things are pretty well put together whereas at launch you basically barely had to do anything to "progress".

I say this as a modder whose main modding is focused on balance adjustments, but I like the game much more challenging. The Sims 2 is really not that demanding once you have furniture above the level of a starter home, though.

We miss meaningful emotions, the tough curveballs, the unexpected twists of fate. 

You mean like Sims suffering Grief from deaths or losing a job, experiencing looming layoffs that may progress into a layoff, and the grieving process making them become a glutton and overeat when before they were a staunch vegetarian? That sort of thing? Cuz that's what the last few packs have been giving us, we definitely get that stuff.

Why don’t neighbors react when I behave badly? Why does a breakup leave no scars?

They very much do...Sims literally react to bad behavior. With get famous you develop a reputation. When you've broken up with someone you'll get memories of them from milestones from growing together that make you upset, or with other packs they may call you and beg to get back together, or being near them out and about in town will make you uncomfortable, and with life and death you can get grief from a breakup. That grief can be anger, denial, or sadness dependign on their traits, and if they've had grief from a breakup in the past, they'll get a special kind of grief from having lived it once before. These ARE mechanics. You not knowing about them doesn't mean they aren't there. These systems are DRAMATICALLY more complex than they were in Sims 2. 

You're right, they've added a lot of things since The Sims 4 first came out... but have you ever noticed the little details we used to have? Do you remember what happened when a Sim in The Sims 2 had their heart broken? How difficult it was to help them find love again?

Have you ever tried raising four kids in The Sims 2 and getting them into private school without cheats? Did you even have time to do all their homework? Didn't the overworked mother sometimes collapse after spending the whole day cleaning? Wasn't that real simulation?

Why did The Sims simplify all of that? Why did they remove aspirations? Why do Sims still have memories, but those memories don't actually affect their personality anymore?

Of course, I still enjoy many things about The Sims 4, and I believe it has no real competition right now. But it has drifted away from what once made it truly unique and this is sad…

silvasijan wrote:

but have you ever noticed the little details we used to have?

https://bsky.app/profile/waffle64.bsky.social/post/3l345m6hdhp25

Here is a thread of hundreds of details Sims 4 has.

silvasijan wrote:

Didn't the overworked mother sometimes collapse after spending the whole day cleaning? Wasn't that real simulation?

My Sims in Sims 4 can't stop falling asleep in the bathroom, and I currently have one parent and a teen. I really dont know what you're on about, full stop. 

silvasijan wrote:

Why did they remove aspirations?

They...didnt?

silvasijan wrote:

Why do Sims still have memories, but those memories don't actually affect their personality anymore?

Milestones? Which they can recall if they're in the area the milestone happened, depending on the milestone? And Sentiments, which affect how they interact with others? And discovery moments, where their personality is literally directly altered by an event happening, meaning it then carries with them the rest of their life?