All This Beautiful Landscaping...

I personally love the landscapes. I also just send out my sims regularly to be out there so I can enjoy it. They do their activities out there most of the time. Yoga, swimming, fishing, collecting jogging with pets, cooking at grills, playing in the playgrounds and being and interacting with the community in the areas that are set up.. or easily bringing them back to my sims house without everyone being grumpy because they are red before they arrive. I have my sims garden, paint, swim and use the hot tubs outside so that I can see the views. It adds life and immersion to look out and see a beautiful extension. I don't make use of the portable stuff as much as I should but my sims regularly carry around guitars. Probably 50% of my sims that I intend on keeping as a main sim has the outdoor trait, because I love looking at it and being outdoors in this version of the sims that much. I do like to switch from hood to hood though for variety.
I didn't enjoy the look of 3 and with sims 2 even though I loved that game at the time.. the views were not good from street level. My sims did not spend all that much time outside. I know I could play it on higher graphics but it would cause stuttering.. so I didn't try. The view was off color and made me think of them going into a mist rather than being in a world. It could have been my computer but even then I spent quite a bit on stuff like that for myself. I'm sure I could have filled it up the spaces but I don't play that way.. and in Sims 2 I wouldn't have been able to see it fully anyway from my sims home area. I like that it's filled up for me.. so I can have my sims just step in and feel like they are actually surrounded by life. I do wish there was some tool to change the scenery ... but I probably wouldn't use it. I'd wait and see who created good working ones then download those if they became available. I just want to play the sims themselves and tell my stories to myself.. the view makes it more "there".
I think if the trade off when they built it was stability... although frankly I don't dwell on that. I don't have too. My game looks great and it runs smooth. I can enjoy my game play in the midst of that beauty.

As I recall, it took about 3.5 years for the Sims to touch their feet in the ocean water and swim in it on The Sims 3, as those features only came up in the pre-Sims 3 Seasons update. And using boats, and a few other things, took 4 years as they are features that only came with Island Paradise.

Without judging anyone, and disregarding the fact that The Sims 4 already has good years of road, I still find it interesting how some people talk about certain features of The Sims 3 as if they had been present in the game since its launch.

I find it interesting that they add details to the worlds, like boats, even if they are only for decoration. It's better than having nothing. The worlds of The Sims 3 barely used objects in their composition, were very few times that they did it in the past generation, in general, it was just modification of terrain, ocean, trees and streets. Not that I'm defending The Sims 4, but well ... if you can make an even more believable environment, why not? I still think that the worlds ambiance of The Sims 4 are much more detailed than in The Sims 3, precisely by the use of compositing objects.

I understand that the open world is a resource that many people miss, but some people talk about it as if it were possible to do a series of itinerant and unique activities in the public areas of the open world, when in reality this is not far behind we can do in The Sims 4, which is: collect collectibles, plants, or make a barbecue. Apart from that, the only exclusiveness of the open world is that you could walk freely among all areas of the world, but again, there was not much to do in public areas.

I particularly do not bother because well ... what could I do differently in the public areas? There are not many options.

In The Sims 2, the concept of world-edition was much easier because in reality there was not exactly "one world." The Sims could only access lots, and the areas that went beyond the lots in terms of detail and setting were extremely poor, since the game was not made with the external scenario in mind. What we saw in the neighborhood was basically a great decorative concept, and that was incidentally added in the vision in lot of the game with the Nightlife expansion to give the least immersion.

=)

"celipoesias;c-16480493" wrote:
As I recall, it took about 3.5 years for the Sims to touch their feet in the ocean water and swim in it on The Sims 3, as those features only came up in the pre-Sims 3 Seasons update. And using boats, and a few other things, took 4 years as they are features that only came with Island Paradise.

Without judging anyone, and disregarding the fact that The Sims 4 already has good years of road, I still find it interesting how some people talk about certain features of The Sims 3 as if they had been present in the game since its launch.

I find it interesting that they add details to the worlds, like boats, even if they are only for decoration. It's better than having nothing. The worlds of The Sims 3 barely used objects in their composition, were very few times that they did it in the past generation, in general, it was just modification of terrain, ocean, trees and streets. Not that I'm defending The Sims 4, but well ... if you can make an even more believable environment, why not? I still think that the worlds ambiance of The Sims 4 are much more detailed than in The Sims 3, precisely by the use of compositing objects.

I understand that the open world is a resource that many people miss, but some people talk about it as if it were possible to do a series of itinerant and unique activities in the public areas of the open world, when in reality this is not far behind we can do in The Sims 4, which is: collect collectibles, plants, or make a barbecue. Apart from that, the only exclusiveness of the open world is that you could walk freely among all areas of the world, but again, there was not much to do in public areas.

I particularly do not bother because well ... what could I do differently in the public areas? There are not many options.

In The Sims 2, the concept of world-edition was much easier because in reality there was not exactly "one world." The Sims could only access lots, and the areas that went beyond the lots in terms of detail and setting were extremely poor, since the game was not made with the external scenario in mind. What we saw in the neighborhood was basically a great decorative concept, and that was incidentally added in the vision in lot of the game with the Nightlife expansion to give the least immersion.

=)

I couldn't disagree more.

In the Sims 3 (as well as TS2) you were able to modify the world in lots of ways. You could make a world as detailed or as simple as you want, because that function was baked into the game from the start. We didn't have to wait four years for that.

You say that you couldn't modify public areas in TS3? Sure you could. Players could plop a lot down on almost any piece of land and create whatever they wanted in that area. A park, a club, a museum, a bar, a cafe. Whatever you wanted, there was room in the worlds to add it.

In TS3, the only EA world that I really used a lot was Lucky Palms. It had a lot of empty open space. But because the game was so flexible, I could make use of it. On the lone highway, way out of town, away from everything, I set down an abandoned diner with a Vampire club hidden in the basement. Further along that same road, near a mine shaft in the mountain, I built an abandoned miner's shack. Underneath, there was a shelter for my survivalist Sims. Behind the mountains, on a very secluded patch of land on a ledge, I built a campsite, overlooking the river below.

In Twinbrook, I built a huge junkyard, off road, out in the boonies. I added a house and I surrounded it with trees to make it look as if it were hidden in the woods.

In another EA world (I forget which one now), once again, I built a little church away from the road, up on a hill. Behind it, I built a cemetery surrounded by broken and burned trees and shrouded in fog.

In a custom world created by Awesims, I moved my Sim into a fixer upper house that overlooked the beach. The house was built on a pond full of koi and to get to it, the Sims had to cross a foot bridge.

In another custom world (Rflong7's, I think), there was a huge mountain with a road running all the way up to the top. There was nothing there. I built a picnic area with a table and picnic blanket. There was also a telescope so that the Sims could look up at the stars or down to the ocean below.

In a custom world by Coasterboi, there were cliffside houses. IIRC, they had stairs that could take you down the cliffs right to the beach. And the beach was real, it could be used. You could set down a lot and build a cabana or a boathouse, or set down a bonfire for the teens to dance around after dark.

I challenge anyone to do something similar in TS4. But it's not possible.

You can't follow a road around a mountain to the other side and create a campsite, because the mountain doesn't exist. It's the equivalent of a cardboard set in a 3rd grade play. You can't build a lot off road unless EA already set the lot there for you. In TS4, you can't create your own copse of woods, unless it's on a lot. In TS4, you can't create a pond and you certainly can't build a bridge to ford it.

Oh, and when it comes to collections, in TS3, you find different things throughout the world. Collection items can be found all over. They're not sitting in a box or a log, in the same place every single day, week after week. You don't need to look for a sign in order to be able to fish. Herbs and flowers can pop up anywhere, not in the same designated place every time. The only surprises with collecting in TS4 is how many visits it will take before the plant you need finally becomes harvestable.

Beauty is nice, but it's not everything. Game play is everything. Functionality is everything. The freedom to be creative is everything. The simulation of life within the game is everything. However, TS4 took the shallow route. It's pretty, but it's vapid and empty and it saddens me to no end to see the series take this turn. EA didn't just lose the plot, they gave it away when they decided to use "Oooh, shiny!" as the focus of the game.

When you start a game and you can't even bypass CAS, there's a problem. It's obvious where EA's focus is this time around. It's on looks, not substance.

" It's the equivalent of a cardboard set in a 3rd grade play"

This perfectly describes Sims 4 - You look at the fake scenery but we aren't letting you wander off the stage

"cactusjuice;c-16480640" wrote:
" It's the equivalent of a cardboard set in a 3rd grade play"

This perfectly describes Sims 4 - You look at the fake scenery but we aren't letting you wander off the stage

That's exactly how it feels.

About three weeks into the game, once the initial "Oooh, shiny!" had warn off, TS4 started to feel like a cage.

I'm going to provide some examples:

I'm a city girl at heart, so when I played TS4, I spent most of my time in San Myshuno. Here's the map of that "world" with the Arts Quarter circled.

https://i.imgur.com/NbQkxtb.png

Now here's the portion of the Arts Quarter that is actually playable. I use the term playable loosely because there's a lot of empty space that has absolutely nothing to do there, except to admire the scenery. I guess that, instead of calling it playable, I should say that the area is accessible.

(Please also take note of the awful, awful band of clouds that encircles the "world" It would have been worse, but I used a mod to get rid of the cartoon clouds.)

https://i.imgur.com/yoStOPN.jpg

This is a view of the same 'hood from the other side. It's nearly all fake. All of the neighborhoods in the entire game are like this.

https://i.imgur.com/h63cjDS.jpg

Now compare that to a world from TS3. (St. Claire by Awesims.) Every building and every tree, as far as the eye can see, is accessible AND playable. There's not one thing that is simple stage dressing.

https://i.imgur.com/LEYxHe2.jpg

Here's the fixer-upper from my previous post -- before I rehabbed and expanded it. Note the pond that was made possible due to the amazing build tools that came in the base game. The bridge was created with imaginative use of the constrainfloorelevations cheat, which does not exist in TS4, because TS4 has no landscaping tools.

https://i.imgur.com/ZW4uEkG.jpg

Here is the view from the porch of that same house. Beyond the road, there's a path leading down a steep slope to a genuine beach. All of the homes on the opposite shore can be visited.

https://i.imgur.com/idlBdEY.jpg

This is the picnic area that I mentioned in my previous post, before I fixed the area up a bit. I use it as a Lover's Lane/teen hangout. Note that everything within view is accessible and playable, including the land way up on the opposite hill that I circled.

Also, there's no ugly band of clouds in sight, just a lovely night sky.

https://i.imgur.com/M3y4YrC.jpg

Just for giggles, I added this pic, because it shows off the pool tools which, admittedly, came later in the game. However, take note of the foundation on the house and NO foundation required on the garage/stables.

The family here is a recreation of the one that I had in TS4. I take pictures for my story in TS4. But I go to TS3 when I want to play. For me, the Sims and the world seem so much more immersive and enjoyable in the previous games.

https://i.imgur.com/Q0n9Ras.jpg

That's the difference between TS4 and its predecessors. When it comes to real estate and the flexibility of the build tools, TS4 has gone backwards.

Before someone asks, "Since you love TS3 so much, why don't you just play that?", the answer is that I do! I transferred it from my old hard drive onto another laptop. That version of the game never got update 1.67 where I was required to use Origin. So I can play offline whenever I want. However, the thing is, I was ready to move onto something new -- something bigger and better -- just like mostly everyone else in the Sim community who bought TS4

I loved TS3, but I thought that TS4 would expand and further define the series. Plus, I expected a 64-bit .exe that, up to now, TS3 never got. What I didn't expect was a full on rewind and devolution of the series.

The reason that I keep posting in these forums is because I'm trying to let the gurus understand what it was that I loved about the previous games, TS2 included: it was the depth and substance. Most of that has gone missing in TS4. Still, I live in hope that the next game has got to be better, because this version cut far too many corners. The only way to get a better game the next time around is to speak up. Now.

Yes, TS4 is dead gorgeous to look at. It is! Yet, what good are visuals if most of it is merely window dressing?

"Cynna;c-16480522" wrote:

In the Sims 3 (as well as TS2) you were able to modify the world in lots of ways. You could make a world as detailed or as simple as you want, because that function was baked into the game from the start. We didn't have to wait four years for that.

You say that you couldn't modify public areas in TS3? Sure you could. Players could plop a lot down on almost any piece of land and create whatever they wanted in that area. A park, a club, a museum, a bar, a cafe. Whatever you wanted, there was room in the worlds to add it.

At no point did I say that we can not modify public areas in The Sims 3. I just said that some people talk about public areas in The Sims 3 as if they could do a lot of different things in those places with respect to activities, when in reality everything is limited to collectibles, fishing, picnic, and a few other little things that are not very different from what you can do in the public areas of The Sims 4. And when I talk in public areas, I'm talking about public areas, and what you can do in those places. Note that I said "itinerant and unique activities," so obviously I'm referring to what the Sims can do in public areas, not the player's ability to add lots anywhere in those public areas, not least because we all know Sims can do a lot of different things when they are inside lots.

That's what I'm talking about. It has nothing to do with the possibility of the player adding lots freely over public areas or the power that the game gives you to modify these places, putting some decorations that are made available, some tables, trash cans or trees. And my comment is about the interaction of the Sims in public areas, which has nothing to do with lots or modification of those areas. And I made this comment because some people talk about interactions with the Sims in public areas as if in The Sims 3 it was possible to do incredible things, when in reality the only new and more consistent activities came after 3.5 years when we could swim in the ocean, and then use boats, boats and other things with Island Paradise.

And if you do not understand anyway, I repeat again, I'm talking about public areas and what the Sims can do in them, I'm not talking about lots or modifications made by the player.

And not that this is of any use, even because it doesn't even refer to the issue that I approached, but the create a world tool was made available 6 months after the launch of the base game. And it was only possible to modify public areas and add more lotes in the world directly by the game after The Sims 3 Ambitions. But this is not information to enter into debate, but rather just informational purpose. But this is just a detail, nothing compares to waiting for almost 4 years for something that will not come, as in The Sims 4. =)

I am desperately hoping that TS4 has a short lifespan in fact I hope its almost over and in 2019 they will release Sims 5 with a open world. They did so many things wrong with TS4 that I feel like with TS5 they really need to redeem theirselves

"celipoesias;c-16481765" wrote:

"Cynna;c-16480522" wrote:

In the Sims 3 (as well as TS2) you were able to modify the world in lots of ways. You could make a world as detailed or as simple as you want, because that function was baked into the game from the start. We didn't have to wait four years for that.

You say that you couldn't modify public areas in TS3? Sure you could. Players could plop a lot down on almost any piece of land and create whatever they wanted in that area. A park, a club, a museum, a bar, a cafe. Whatever you wanted, there was room in the worlds to add it.

At no point did I say that we can not modify public areas in The Sims 3. I just said that some people talk about public areas in The Sims 3 as if they could do a lot of different things in those places with respect to activities, when in reality everything is limited to collectibles, fishing, picnic, and a few other little things that are not very different from what you can do in the public areas of The Sims 4. And when I talk in public areas, I'm talking about public areas, and what you can do in those places. Note that I said "itinerant and unique activities," so obviously I'm referring to what the Sims can do in public areas, not the player's ability to add lots anywhere in those public areas, not least because we all know Sims can do a lot of different things when they are inside lots.

That's what I'm talking about. It has nothing to do with the possibility of the player adding lots freely over public areas or the power that the game gives you to modify these places, putting some decorations that are made available, some tables, trash cans or trees. And my comment is about the interaction of the Sims in public areas, which has nothing to do with lots or modification of those areas. And I made this comment because some people talk about interactions with the Sims in public areas as if in The Sims 3 it was possible to do incredible things, when in reality the only new and more consistent activities came after 3.5 years when we could swim in the ocean, and then use boats, boats and other things with Island Paradise.

And if you do not understand anyway, I repeat again, I'm talking about public areas and what the Sims can do in them, I'm not talking about lots or modifications made by the player.

And not that this is of any use, even because it doesn't even refer to the issue that I approached, but the create a world tool was made available 6 months after the launch of the base game. And it was only possible to modify public areas and add more lotes in the world directly by the game after The Sims 3 Ambitions. But this is not information to enter into debate, but rather just informational purpose. But this is just a detail, nothing compares to waiting for almost 4 years for something that will not come, as in The Sims 4. =)

Well you did imply that "some" people like myself who loved open world only talk about the activities when it's as much about how you can customize your world. You also mentioned timelines about Sims 3 as though ignoring the months it took Sims 4 to actually get any pool to tip your toes in, years to get a toddler stage and it's been 4 years and no cars let alone any boats

In sims 3 public areas are what you want them to be,activities at that area are what you want it to be.They can be anywhere you want even in the middle of a forest you can go in game say "This spot looks nice" and go at it.Takes about 30 seconds to drop a lot down Anywhere not just existing lots then the activities are up to the player.Is not just collecting and fishing

Example I throw down a lot,remember any change of the world you make can be saved and played over and over even new games.I have my own version of many EA worlds that can be played straight from a new game anytime I want.

Camping spot with a bonfire,tents/or small cabins and yes a fishing lake.With the campfire you can cook fish you catch on it.So can actually live in the wild and never go home.There are no restrictions or goals it is free reign.Our open world maps are not decor they are however much or little the player wants it to be.

A lot with a gondola and a outdoor bar

An amusement park with a roller coaster,carousel,popcorn machines in the middle of nowhere

A public farm where any sim can visit and collect eggs from chickens or milk the cows and gather fruits and veggies.

Point is in Sims 3 the public lots can have anything the player wants on them,if the object was made it can be there to interact with if you want.Have no idea where you think sims 3 public lots were limited to collecting and fishing.

All space on the map is available even water itself and it takes only minutes to throw an island to explore down or abandoned village open to the public you can live on like Gilligan and never go home again,


I decided I want an island off that secluded beach in picture below, because we can,so takes like 3 seconds to drop a lot.Everything you see is not illusion is whatever the player wants to do with it.This is not Isla Paradiso is Barnacle Bay

This literally took only a few minutes none of this is mods it is how great the game is,is for now a residential but more on that later


https://i.imgur.com/SyjQBit.png

Drawing the shape I want

https://i.imgur.com/efsLEcj.png

Then making it

https://i.imgur.com/5npwRMX.png

https://i.imgur.com/jUZLWUG.png

https://i.imgur.com/jla3v93.png

https://i.imgur.com/57uPb3t.png

https://i.imgur.com/TUacdWV.png

https://i.imgur.com/IlbmsrL.png

https://i.imgur.com/HCfMbLg.png

https://i.imgur.com/JWS1O86.png

https://i.imgur.com/gS6Pycw.png

https://i.imgur.com/uc2TzDd.png


View from that other beach in first pic

https://i.imgur.com/B7rGUYk.png


Even that sand you seen me draw,is not an illusion it is fully interactive to build castles with or play in like below she is throwing it in the air on the island I just made.

https://i.imgur.com/ynhR5BY.png


Now the glory of sims 3 as shown you can live there residentially or.....with one simple click of a button turn it public.Sims will visit it and the activities will be whatever you want it to be.If you want it to be a spot to collect shells,so be it.If you want it to be a island arcade with a snack bar so be it,it you want it to be a haven for rare insects or fireflies then it will be.

This goes for ANY spot on the map as you seen that lot was not there I made it there in just a few minutes.Open world is how it sounds OPEN!!!! to all possibilities.

"cactusjuice;c-16481857" wrote:

Well you did imply that "some" people like myself who loved open world only talk about the activities when it's as much about how you can customize your world. You also mentioned timelines about Sims 3 as though ignoring the months it took Sims 4 to actually get any pool to tip your toes in, years to get a toddler stage and it's been 4 years and no cars let alone any boats

You're the one saying that, not me. I didn't say what I said because some people cite world customization while talking about public areas. I'm just talking about what Sims can do in public areas, and only that, the motivation behind it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that some people talk about customization. ;)

And another thing, I did not talk about the timeline of the game ignoring the time it took for things to arrive in The Sims 4. I may not have mentioned it in my first post because I was essentially talking about The Sims 3, but it does not mean that I ignored it. So I did not ignore that, at the end of my second post I still said: "But this is just a detail, nothing compares to waiting for almost 4 years for something that will not come, as in The Sims 4. =)"

When I talked about it, I'm not only isolating about a game editing tool, I may be referring to the whole thing, because a lot of things took a while and are taking a long time to get on The Sims 4, for a much longer period when compared to The Sims 3.