5 Things I Wish They Would've Fixed/Added Instead of Giving Us "Scenarios"
I'm sure there are plenty of people excited about the addition of scenarios to expand gameplay options out there. I was one of those people until I learned these two facts about scenarios:
1. The "prize" for completing a scenario is... drum roll please.... Reward Store Points. (Queue the falling flat music sting...whah, whah, whah, whaaaaaaaah....)
2. Some scenarios will be limited time only.
Unrewarding Rewards
I don't know about you, but accumulating Reward Store points is not something I struggle with while playing. Yes, there are some must-have rewards that I focus on getting asap with a new sim (like Incredibly friendly), but once I play a sim for a little while, I find that I have a plethora of Reward store points and nothing to spend it on. Sure, I can buy potions to help out if I'm committed to not using cheat codes on a sim (but let's face it, the reward store is basically a sanctioned cheat store, so if I'm really committed to not using cheats, I'm not buying rewards, either.), but most are one-time purchases that are pretty easy to get early on.
The only way that winning Reward Store points for completing scenarios would be at all worth the effort is if they're also adding new prizes to purchase from the reward store. Like say, if all those career locked CAS and Buy Mode items could be unlocked with reward store points. Or any of the locked crafts unlocked with points (so I could maybe fix the fact that knittables don't often properly unlock if multiple households in a single save add the unlocked knittable to CAS...) Even those dialog options, or selected sim options that are locked until you complete certain aspirations or have certain traits. If I could unlock those things with Reward Store points to add nuance to different sims, then completing scenarios might be worth the effort.
If it's just more reward store points without more reward store prizes to purchase, this is just LAME.
Limited Time Letdown
If the lame "prize" wasn't enough, I was doubly disappointed to learn that some of these "scenarios" will be limited time. Did they not learn their lesson with the spectacular failure of the summer concert event?
Again, that summer concert event was exciting at first, but come to find out that it's only available on an in-game weekend, and only ONE of the three artists would perform at any concert event?! So, if you wanted a chance to catch all three acts, you had to play through three in-game weeks to get to it?! And if that weren't bad enough, if you wanted multiple homes to have those concert T-shirts only available at the event, you'd have to play through multiple households to unlock them?! And what if the concerts inspired you to create a new rocker household with entertainer aspirations, but too bad, you can't dress that new sim in a new save in those cool concert T-shirts because you didn't create that household/save before the event ended?!?! Seriously?!?!
Free app games can get away with pulling stunts like that. BUT, don't taint a game that I'm spending hundreds to own with limited time junk, thank you very much!
In a way, I guess it's good that the "reward" is just useless reward store points, because then I won't be missing out when they inevitably release a limited time scenario when I'm too busy to play. Sorry, but I buy the sims rather than play Sims online games so that I AM IN CONTROL OF WHEN I PLAY, not an app's event schedule. This trend toward "limited time" junk in the sims is personally infuriating!
ANYWAY, these disappointments in this new scenario update (that I was genuinely excited about when I first heard about it), have led me to think about existing game updates that would genuinely thrill me--and I can't see any way they could screw these up if they would do them. Let the countdown begin:
Sitting pretty at number 5:
5. ASPIRATIONS FOR ALL CAREERS
I must commend EA for the wide variety of careers available in Sims 4 (I've been playing since Sims 1 was new, so I can tell you that the Sims 4 has the most expansive options for earning money IMO). Yes, there are some still missing (I really miss being able to run an in-home daycare center! I want parents dropping off babies and toddlers in strollers again, grade school kids showing up after school, and parents picking up at the end of day--and never knowing how many babies/toddlers you'll get each day... So FUN!), but overall I'm happy with the variety of rabbit hole careers, Go to Work, Work at Home, and freelancer options.
What I'm missing are aspiration paths for many of them--specifically all three Go to Work careers (doctor, scientist, detective) and the freelancer careers). While I love all the career paths, I find myself more often than not picking careers with aspirations because of the goals that motivate me to level up in the careers. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to add aspirations for all careers options, would it?
I wouldn't mind more aspirations overall, but career aspirations are the ones that are the most glaringly obvious that they're missing.
4. SOLIDS AND NEUTRAL OPTIONS FOR ALL PATTERN-ONLY CLOTHES/BUY ITEMS
While I wish there were more clothing options overall (especially for toddlers/kids), what I find the most frustrating is when a clothing/buy mode item has a great design, but it only comes in obnoxious patterns with garish colors. Sure, they're perfect for some of my bold, brash, sims, but nothing is more irritating than dressing sims in the same old clothes because the top and skirt I want to pair together clash in pattern and/or color. I would be insanely happy if EVERY SINGLE ITEM (clothes especially, but build/buy mode, too) had a solid white, cream, black, and brown color palette option so that I can pair it with whatever I want.
There are some great skirts, tops, beds, couches, chairs, tables, etc. that I NEVER USE because they just don't go with anything else--but I love the style and would use them a lot if only they had those neutral options available! If you're going to do recolor update (which I realize they already did a lot of, and I'm happy to have more versatility with the wood options finally, but why wouldn't you add neutrals for everything?!?), these are the ones to do!!!
3. STYLE UPDATES ON OLDER HAIR/CLOTHES/OBJECTS
Speaking of updating things, there are also some great items (especially hairs!) that I never use because they came with the base game and early expansions--and they look it. Some of the early hairs especially have great style, but they don't move or have the natural details that newer hairs do, so I never use them anymore. The same is true with some of the older build/buy mode items, and definitely with some of the older pants/tops. This is a big undertaking, so just cleaning up the lines and making them more natural could be done piecemeal releasing updates of a few older items with every patch. Help us reuse/recycle those old items with a refresh!
2. MORE NATURAL HAIR AND EYE COLORS!!!!!
I was so happy that they finally added more hair colors, since I routinely only used the four most natural (black, red, brown, blonde). The yellow and bright red were too cartoony, the pale blonde too pasty, the light brown too reddish to be truly brown... But even though they added a few more colors, there aren't many more to choose from if you prefer a more realistic look for your sims.
The same is true with the eye colors. The aqua and violet eyes are cool and I use them, but mainly because the "real" options are so blah/ugly. I want a more natural midnight blue and lighter cornflower blue, a mossy, leafy green that's not so vivid, but not so brown as the "natural" green currently in the game, and a light taupe brown option rather than the orangy brown eye that currently serves as the light brown option.
Or can we at least get sliders on the existing hair/eye colors so we can craft a personally pleasing hue?
(Yes, I know there are gorgeous custom content options out there for hair, eyes, objects, etc., and I used CC a lot in Sims 3. But it was always a chore to ferret out the problematic CC/mods whenever EA released a new expansion/pack/update. I'll definitely delve into CC for Sims 4 when this franchise winds down, but until then, I'm hoping EA will keep on improving their original creations.)
1. SWIMMABLE BODIES OF WATER IN EXISTING NEIGHBORHOODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I ADORE Island Living, but the biggest disappointment I had when that expansion pack came out was that it DID NOT make the most obvious areas in older neighborhoods swimmable too. Yes, I'm extremely happy that they give us natural swimmable areas in new neighborhoods, like with the Cottage Living and Snowy Escape. And yes, there are bodies of water in some neighborhoods that they could skip adding swimming, like the canal/dock areas where you'd have to add ladders in order to let sims enter the water naturally.
But some worlds have water areas where the fact that they're not swimmable is a glaring flaw. Here are my top 3:
WINDENBURG - The Crumbling Isle
I've moved my criminal kingpin into the mansion above the cliff, and he's just "dying" to dispose of some rivals via drowning on the cliffside beach below his home!
BRINDLETON BAY - Cavalier Cove
That seaside cottage has become the ideal rental property, but for the fact that you cannot swim in the sea it sits beside! Who wants to vacation in a beachy location where you cannot swim in the ocean that's just outside your front door?!
GRANITE FALLS - Granite Falls Forest
Speaking of vacations... It's immensely disappointing that sims cannot swim in the gathering pool below that gorgeous waterfall! Sure, hiking in the forest is fun, but why am I stuck in a kiddie pool or on a slip-n-slide on hot days when there's a gorgeous natural pool I could be dipping (or skinny dipping in?!?
(Did I miss any? Let me know!)
ALL THAT BEING SAID...
All criticisms aside, I truly do love the Sims 4 franchise and appreciate all that the EA team has done to update the existing game via free patches. I simply hope they fix/add these things before they move on from the franchise so that it's even more enjoyable. (I really hope they do address these things--especially the swimmable issue at least in those three areas where it's most glaringly missing!)
And I'm still holding out hope that Scenarios will wind up being better than I've been led to believe based on the existing information...
1. The "prize" for completing a scenario is... drum roll please.... Reward Store Points. (Queue the falling flat music sting...whah, whah, whah, whaaaaaaaah....)
2. Some scenarios will be limited time only.
Unrewarding Rewards
I don't know about you, but accumulating Reward Store points is not something I struggle with while playing. Yes, there are some must-have rewards that I focus on getting asap with a new sim (like Incredibly friendly), but once I play a sim for a little while, I find that I have a plethora of Reward store points and nothing to spend it on. Sure, I can buy potions to help out if I'm committed to not using cheat codes on a sim (but let's face it, the reward store is basically a sanctioned cheat store, so if I'm really committed to not using cheats, I'm not buying rewards, either.), but most are one-time purchases that are pretty easy to get early on.
The only way that winning Reward Store points for completing scenarios would be at all worth the effort is if they're also adding new prizes to purchase from the reward store. Like say, if all those career locked CAS and Buy Mode items could be unlocked with reward store points. Or any of the locked crafts unlocked with points (so I could maybe fix the fact that knittables don't often properly unlock if multiple households in a single save add the unlocked knittable to CAS...) Even those dialog options, or selected sim options that are locked until you complete certain aspirations or have certain traits. If I could unlock those things with Reward Store points to add nuance to different sims, then completing scenarios might be worth the effort.
If it's just more reward store points without more reward store prizes to purchase, this is just LAME.
Limited Time Letdown
If the lame "prize" wasn't enough, I was doubly disappointed to learn that some of these "scenarios" will be limited time. Did they not learn their lesson with the spectacular failure of the summer concert event?
Again, that summer concert event was exciting at first, but come to find out that it's only available on an in-game weekend, and only ONE of the three artists would perform at any concert event?! So, if you wanted a chance to catch all three acts, you had to play through three in-game weeks to get to it?! And if that weren't bad enough, if you wanted multiple homes to have those concert T-shirts only available at the event, you'd have to play through multiple households to unlock them?! And what if the concerts inspired you to create a new rocker household with entertainer aspirations, but too bad, you can't dress that new sim in a new save in those cool concert T-shirts because you didn't create that household/save before the event ended?!?! Seriously?!?!
Free app games can get away with pulling stunts like that. BUT, don't taint a game that I'm spending hundreds to own with limited time junk, thank you very much!
In a way, I guess it's good that the "reward" is just useless reward store points, because then I won't be missing out when they inevitably release a limited time scenario when I'm too busy to play. Sorry, but I buy the sims rather than play Sims online games so that I AM IN CONTROL OF WHEN I PLAY, not an app's event schedule. This trend toward "limited time" junk in the sims is personally infuriating!
ANYWAY, these disappointments in this new scenario update (that I was genuinely excited about when I first heard about it), have led me to think about existing game updates that would genuinely thrill me--and I can't see any way they could screw these up if they would do them. Let the countdown begin:
Sitting pretty at number 5:
5. ASPIRATIONS FOR ALL CAREERS
I must commend EA for the wide variety of careers available in Sims 4 (I've been playing since Sims 1 was new, so I can tell you that the Sims 4 has the most expansive options for earning money IMO). Yes, there are some still missing (I really miss being able to run an in-home daycare center! I want parents dropping off babies and toddlers in strollers again, grade school kids showing up after school, and parents picking up at the end of day--and never knowing how many babies/toddlers you'll get each day... So FUN!), but overall I'm happy with the variety of rabbit hole careers, Go to Work, Work at Home, and freelancer options.
What I'm missing are aspiration paths for many of them--specifically all three Go to Work careers (doctor, scientist, detective) and the freelancer careers). While I love all the career paths, I find myself more often than not picking careers with aspirations because of the goals that motivate me to level up in the careers. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to add aspirations for all careers options, would it?
I wouldn't mind more aspirations overall, but career aspirations are the ones that are the most glaringly obvious that they're missing.
4. SOLIDS AND NEUTRAL OPTIONS FOR ALL PATTERN-ONLY CLOTHES/BUY ITEMS
While I wish there were more clothing options overall (especially for toddlers/kids), what I find the most frustrating is when a clothing/buy mode item has a great design, but it only comes in obnoxious patterns with garish colors. Sure, they're perfect for some of my bold, brash, sims, but nothing is more irritating than dressing sims in the same old clothes because the top and skirt I want to pair together clash in pattern and/or color. I would be insanely happy if EVERY SINGLE ITEM (clothes especially, but build/buy mode, too) had a solid white, cream, black, and brown color palette option so that I can pair it with whatever I want.
There are some great skirts, tops, beds, couches, chairs, tables, etc. that I NEVER USE because they just don't go with anything else--but I love the style and would use them a lot if only they had those neutral options available! If you're going to do recolor update (which I realize they already did a lot of, and I'm happy to have more versatility with the wood options finally, but why wouldn't you add neutrals for everything?!?), these are the ones to do!!!
3. STYLE UPDATES ON OLDER HAIR/CLOTHES/OBJECTS
Speaking of updating things, there are also some great items (especially hairs!) that I never use because they came with the base game and early expansions--and they look it. Some of the early hairs especially have great style, but they don't move or have the natural details that newer hairs do, so I never use them anymore. The same is true with some of the older build/buy mode items, and definitely with some of the older pants/tops. This is a big undertaking, so just cleaning up the lines and making them more natural could be done piecemeal releasing updates of a few older items with every patch. Help us reuse/recycle those old items with a refresh!
2. MORE NATURAL HAIR AND EYE COLORS!!!!!
I was so happy that they finally added more hair colors, since I routinely only used the four most natural (black, red, brown, blonde). The yellow and bright red were too cartoony, the pale blonde too pasty, the light brown too reddish to be truly brown... But even though they added a few more colors, there aren't many more to choose from if you prefer a more realistic look for your sims.
The same is true with the eye colors. The aqua and violet eyes are cool and I use them, but mainly because the "real" options are so blah/ugly. I want a more natural midnight blue and lighter cornflower blue, a mossy, leafy green that's not so vivid, but not so brown as the "natural" green currently in the game, and a light taupe brown option rather than the orangy brown eye that currently serves as the light brown option.
Or can we at least get sliders on the existing hair/eye colors so we can craft a personally pleasing hue?
(Yes, I know there are gorgeous custom content options out there for hair, eyes, objects, etc., and I used CC a lot in Sims 3. But it was always a chore to ferret out the problematic CC/mods whenever EA released a new expansion/pack/update. I'll definitely delve into CC for Sims 4 when this franchise winds down, but until then, I'm hoping EA will keep on improving their original creations.)
1. SWIMMABLE BODIES OF WATER IN EXISTING NEIGHBORHOODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I ADORE Island Living, but the biggest disappointment I had when that expansion pack came out was that it DID NOT make the most obvious areas in older neighborhoods swimmable too. Yes, I'm extremely happy that they give us natural swimmable areas in new neighborhoods, like with the Cottage Living and Snowy Escape. And yes, there are bodies of water in some neighborhoods that they could skip adding swimming, like the canal/dock areas where you'd have to add ladders in order to let sims enter the water naturally.
But some worlds have water areas where the fact that they're not swimmable is a glaring flaw. Here are my top 3:
WINDENBURG - The Crumbling Isle
I've moved my criminal kingpin into the mansion above the cliff, and he's just "dying" to dispose of some rivals via drowning on the cliffside beach below his home!
BRINDLETON BAY - Cavalier Cove
That seaside cottage has become the ideal rental property, but for the fact that you cannot swim in the sea it sits beside! Who wants to vacation in a beachy location where you cannot swim in the ocean that's just outside your front door?!
GRANITE FALLS - Granite Falls Forest
Speaking of vacations... It's immensely disappointing that sims cannot swim in the gathering pool below that gorgeous waterfall! Sure, hiking in the forest is fun, but why am I stuck in a kiddie pool or on a slip-n-slide on hot days when there's a gorgeous natural pool I could be dipping (or skinny dipping in?!?
(Did I miss any? Let me know!)
ALL THAT BEING SAID...
All criticisms aside, I truly do love the Sims 4 franchise and appreciate all that the EA team has done to update the existing game via free patches. I simply hope they fix/add these things before they move on from the franchise so that it's even more enjoyable. (I really hope they do address these things--especially the swimmable issue at least in those three areas where it's most glaringly missing!)
And I'm still holding out hope that Scenarios will wind up being better than I've been led to believe based on the existing information...
