All This Beautiful Landscaping...

"Sk8rblaze;c-16484676" wrote:

"alexandrea;c-16483752" wrote:
The landscape isn't the focus of the game though..... :s

We will get to swim in the ocean, and build sandcastles later. Not right now though...

I'd rather have a "fake" landscape, than something that is expansive, dull, and lag-inducing.

The way that ponds, lakes, and oceans are set up in TS4, it would require a vast redesign of each to allow for swimming and other interactions. The developers have said they are not able to go back to existing worlds and allow for major adjustments to be made, so it looks as if this won't be happening for TS4. It is a shame, because a solid base game should be able to be expanded in almost any regard possible.

I don't think the lag from TS3 is caused from the large worlds at all. It is just all around bad optimization of the content the game has. If I were to play vanilla TS3's Sunset Valley, I would experience the smoothest gameplay. It is when I install all packs that I start seeing my FPS drop.

Having the developers dictate how each world is to look is boring to me. The Sims is often called a doll house in the way you are given space and can do absolutely anything with it. The Sims 3 completely transformed that, making the series pretty much a doll world. The Sims should always be about the Sims themselves. However, it should never be forgotten that their world/environment is a huge extension of just how far we can really express our Sims’ personalities, and express ourselves through customization.

I assume by lag people mean stuttering and freezing (because lag must be CC related, it’s as non present in my Sims 3 game as error code 12, I simply don’t recognize it and I have quite a few hours in that game) and stuttering and freezing often comes down to routing errors. I suppose that how larger the world, how more probable it is to make errors. In that respect there might be a connection. An Overwatch/Errortrap (NRaas) system would take care of that. Nobody claims creating the game with an open world is easy by the way (and I think it also may be not comparable to open worlds in other, more scripted games).

I agree Sims should always be about sims in a way, but for me that implies “playing with (human) life in the broadest way thinkable”. An evolving world plays an essential part in that. More so than random emotions. On topic: I want my sims to live in that world, not just look at it.

(if I sound counterposing, I’m not, just elaborating, I basically agree with you)