I agree with all the above. I mean Sims 4 is good in CAS and build mode, I actually never built that much ever since I owe the Sims even though I'm not really good at this but well I enjoy creating stuff from time to time.
But let's be real, the gameplay is pretty much boring compared to Sims 2 and 3 and I mean Sims 4 is supposed to be ahead of them and somehow Sims 2 which was like 15 years ago, had better gameplay and Sims who actually showed real emotions when it comes to being in love, being jealous or grieving?? Like Sims 4 if another happy moodlet gets in the way they forget about their grief and they're not even sad anymore, yo your mom or dad just died and this only how you feel?
In order to make the game interesting, you have to download tons and tons of mods so it actually adds story progression and many more interesting things, and in the previous games, I didn't download mods or barely, I was more downloading CC but the games were fine as they were (also I was young and didn't know mods really existed lol but still, looking back if I'm to play with them again, I don't need any mods).
Sims 3 apparently was laggy to a lot of people because of the open world, we had a brand new computer at home and the game always ran fine, it was buggy here and there but never had any issues with lagging on the map and anyway I had that one mod for story progression and when you were resetting the world, it was fine. Also never bought so many expansion packs and all just to have more items, a bit more gameplay, with The Sims 3 I mostly had every expansion pack because they were actually good, but maybe just two stuff ones and that was it. Here I have more than I had planned because you just need more items, more gameplay. Also, as many others say, the fact we have to pay for almost every single thing that was usually added in an expansion pack back in the days is kind of annoying. Like Sims 2 had bowling, downtown, restaurants, spas, and nightclubs, all at the same place and in the same pack (nightlife) Sims 4 you have one for Spa (love this one though the furniture on it are absolutely stunning), one for restaurants (and truth to be told the gameplay on it isn't as good as I thought it would be, they never finish their plates and always stand up when they're assigned their seats), one for bowling (don't have this one yet but gotta wonder if it's worth the money), I mean when they released City Living, they could have added all three of them together or at least the restaurants and bowling maybe, they added just a couple of blank apartments that you have to renovate yourself and you can't even change the way they're built. Sims 3 had the option to change the way the building looked if I'm not mistaken, you could even create your own (I did download some).
And like it has been said, my biggest disappointment is University. Looks like they made that pack so the community was leaving them alone but it's far from being the way it was in previous games and I had so much fun playing with it in the Sims 3, it was really completed, students were interacting much more between each other, like they were invited to any single parties in the world even to the ones they didn't know, this could last all night long, sometimes cops were even interrupting, and your Sim had to wake up and go to his classes in the morning, all tired, with lack of sleep and they could even sleep in their lectures😂(that you could attend to with them) they could have a good GPA and have fun all along with it, everything could be balanced and if you wanted your Sim to go back to their World for a couple of days because you wanted to give them some vacations, you could. In the Sims 4, if you don't sign up for another term, you can't for the next couple of days, why? Not even talking about the crazy amount of work they have to do, assignments, presentations, homework, like I've been a college student and we got a crazy amount of work toward the end of each semester but we could have a social life and social activities. There you can do none if your Sim is a full-time student (which I always do, 4 classes each term) sometimes they work part-time but most of the time I just can't do it, they don't have time for themselves. So basically they don't have much time to make new friends. I can't throw parties because they're too busy having to get the perfect GPA (and if I want them to study at the library or so and you're playing with a household with two sims at college at the same time, let's say the other is in class if you travel to another lot, somehow the other leaves his class and you get a bad notification, why they're doing this? So, I have to wait for both of them to be done with their classes so they can actually study at the library together (this if they have time for it, I have to think about feeding them in between). They gave us bikes but it's pretty much useless since the world isn't open so I gave up on using them, especially since it takes more time to go to the classes with them than without(hi Foxbury) (living on campus and taking forever to go to class is absolutely not realistic). Also when they're done, they're on their own. In the Sims 3, you could invite your relatives, friends to your graduation and they were very excited about it, they were taking pictures with their classmates and friends and we could throw a graduation party (I was doing it not sure it was really a thing) but this was great. Besides I tended to keep the University World in summer so my students could have pool parties, how amazing was that? Britchester's weather is so random it's not even funny, and when it's summer it's cloudy half of the time and kind of chill. Since you can't touch the weather in any of the world, well stick with it.
That's said, I enjoy Island Living, this is like the best World they ever created, the landscapes are amazing, the water is crystal clear and if you add differents lots from the gallery, you can actually have real fun. I also enjoy Tiny Living, the objects are so cute and very modern and I love building tiny houses because that's something I would love to live in one day, I don't need big space and with the game, you can make something absolutely cozy in a small place, so I enjoy this (I don't enjoy murphy beds killing your Sims though because wth? So I added a mod to prevent this but other than this that pack is really cool).
Now not going to mention babies who are debug objects and do nothing but lie in their cribs. And the number of years it took them to add toddlers, something that was in the base game in Sims 2 and 3. Also, teens, why do they look so much like adults? They should have their own clothes and be a little bit smaller because most of the time I can't tell the difference if I see a random NPC walking the neighbourhood.
I wasn't impressed when they decided to release a Star Wars pack 🙃. But until now it would take a lot of work to get what the two previous games had and the way it is, not sure the gameplay part is ever going to beat this. Thank God for the amazing modders doing a better job and making me enjoy the gameplay. Too bad I play on Mac now though, because I can't install the Sims 3 back and anyway my laptop is full now but one day I'll get myself a gaming laptop and I'll install both of them and I'll switch with both games from time to time.
But that's my opinion, not everybody will agree but yeah it depends on how you play and what you do with the game. But when you played the two previous games for years and you compare with the lack the Sims 4 has to offer, you feel the disappointment. I'm not expecting anything from the new expansion pack coming up (anyway I usually wait for the games to be on big sales to buy them so I'm not wasting that much money).
Xoxo
I agree with so much of what you’ve said. I do understand the improvements that Sims 4 has made with some aspects of building and gameplay being less laggy. I was the same as you where I didn’t really experience much lagging or crashing with Sims 3 until my laptop got older, but I knew it was an issue for others.
I love love love Island Living, it gets a lot of bad rep for various reasons but the world itself is closer to what I was expecting Sims 4 to be like. When the university pack came out I was so deadly disappointed with the world and the layout they chose. I played sims 3 university constantly, it was basically the sole reason I was still playing sims 3 through my late teens (that and the pets expansion). Sims 3 university worlds were full of so much stuff, bowling alleys, bars, food places, full halls, the fact you could go to classes and sit in on them was such a great aspect of the uni life. There’s really just not a lot of reason to live on campus in Sims 4 and it’s sucks because it takes away from the young adults “going away” to uni if living on campus is more of a hassle than living in a different world. The bikes make me sad too because I really tried to make them work but they’re a bit buggy and pointless in a closed world. That being said I like using bikes in the pets expansion world.
Since my original post, I’ve tried adding some more stuff packs to my game, I’ve bought every expansion, all but two game packs (not keen on vampires or Star Wars packs), but I still only have a few stuff packs because from reading up on which ones offer the most and the least, a lot of them really don’t do much for the gameplay. The ones I have bought have been slightly disappointing too, I like the stuff you get for building but even having hamsters in sims 4 is more of a hassle. Like I don’t want my hamsters jetting off into space and sending me postcards every night???
I currently play on a Mac too because I needed a Mac for uni courses irl and I do find it sad that I can’t play sims 3 anymore. I think I would go back to it like you said if I do get a gaming computer one day (not that I have any money lol).
I’ve been playing sims 4 every now and then when I’m bored and I do enjoy playing it still but just nowhere near as much as I did with sims 3. I have been out of The Sims loop in terms of the new expansion though, I haven’t heard any details but I’m assuming it’s based on the survey we did a few months back? I do hope the new expansion is a ski resort pack and if that’s the case I really want it to be like Island living but with a few more activities that you can actually interact with. I SOOOO want holiday resorts to be playable too like sims 3, I loved owning a hotel and employing people!
Thanks for everyone’s input on this post too, I can’t reply to everyone because I’m packed with work right now but it’s cool seeing the discussions since I posted this so long ago!
