am i the only that thinks the sims 4 looks empty?

You’re not alone. I waited 4 years to speak up. 5 years in, I’m not holding back. There’s only so much patience one can have. It’s frustrating to see each pack deteriorate in terms of what gameplay they add.

I’ve played every version and I used to come to the forums to see what I’m missing, and come away with so many new things to try that were a complete surprise to me. That doesn’t happen with The Sims 4.

It’s because the sims 3 has more stuff. Bigger expansions and more replay value. So much of sims 4 is a one and done experience. I.e StrangerVille and Jungle Adventures.

It’s subjective though, on this forum section you are going to have a lot of people disagree and say the sims 3 is ugly and lags. (Which it doesn’t for me and many others) Sims 3 needs mods to help it run, sims 4 needs mods to make it fun

Its not just you for sure. Sims 3 felt like an adventure to me. There was always something new to do and something new to discover. I still go back and play my Sims 3 and typically find some little thing that I never found before (or just don't remember having found) Sims 4 has some wonderful features, but as far as pure, unadulterated content, Sims 3 always felt like a bigger world from base game on up through the expansions and stuff.

That said, I'm excited for university and hopeful that it adds in some of the great content I long for.

@MidnightAura is right in saying Sims3 needed mods so we could play it. But Sims4 needs mods to make it more fun to play. I'm using 93 mods right now and most of those are tuning mods that nuke all the irritating autonomous stuff. Some mods are bug fixes. Some are Quality of Life mods that add some weight to relationships, and consequences for bad decision making. If not for mods, Sims4 wouldn't be taking up space on my PC. A large section of the fan base feels the same as you do @adamzaid. Sims4 is pretty darn shallow and empty when played without mods of some kind.

Some of us use no mods in Sims 3 or 4 - I fixed my Sims 3's routing so it does not lag and my sims 4 did not need any mods to make it fun - I have plenty to do and fun in Sims 4 as well as in Sims 3. It simply takes playing both games to make them enjoyable - not mods. My trick is play every household differently. Half the time people will play the households alike or few households and that in itself can get boring quickly.

But if you like playing with mods and CC there is nothing wrong with that either. My Sims 2 has a good deal of CC - Maxis match mostly to get the colors and matching build and buy things. Sims 2's only issue to me is the lack of color choice - but it is a finished game and I never have to worry about the CC breaking in a finished. That is my main object to CC and mods in Sims 4 - it's an unfinished game and I hate the hoop jumping of constantly having to replace stuff - never mind it can sometimes mess up your saves. So I have a rule never to use CC and mods in unfinished games.

Owning everything in sims 3 made mods unnecessary especially after I fixed my own game. I didn't see a need for CC I can color my own stuff so CC was pointless for me - but sure it might be necessary for others and that is okay too. There's a lot of real talented players out there so I can see why a lot of people use mods and CC.

Even Sims 1 has more replay value than Sims 4. I wish EA would put Sims 1 Complete Collection out on Origin so I culd play a REAL Sims game again....

Agreed. Despite the amount of DLCs I have for TS4, it always feels like there's something missing. But then again, the game was made on an engine more limited than TS3 and omitted a considerable amount of content and attention to detail from the predecessors.

I play rotational family play and I never feel bored or like there isn't enough to do. I don't use cheats and I like to make sure most of my sims achieve all the things they want to achieve in life so to me it feels like there is plenty to do. Maybe it just depends on how you play?

I personally really did love The Sims 3.

I got to spend a lot of time in the run-up to release and subsequent to release doing gameplay preview and review. Way back in 2008, I was lucky enough to meet the exec producer Ben Bell and have a demonstration from him prior to release in a fancy hotel somewhere in London. Later on we then got to test it ourselves prior to release.

One thing that blew me away at the time, and that I still miss today, is the Create-a-Style with the full colour palette available to the player to customise practically anything in the game. This added a lot of texture for me as a passionate builder and decorator, but I know it made a difference for those that took pride in their Sims' appearance too.

The Open Neighbourhood was also a literal game-changer and really made it much more interesting for me as a player. The lot-to-lot approach we have back again from The Sims 2 isn't a welcome change for me although I realise we have the nice communal/wild areas between them to explore to obtain collectables. On the other-hand, the transitions from world to world in The Sims 4 are much more fluid though.

I both enjoy and resent the pre-packed world content which is inaccessible by the player. Seeing buildings and houses in my neighbourhood that I have no control over makes me pretty unhappy, being the control-freak that I am. That said, it is effective in making me feel that these areas are more urban than we've normally been able to experience in previous iterations.

I also think that the building tools are somewhat more forgiving - once you know what you're doing. :lol: I dreamt of being able to pick up a building and just move it before when you'd ended up a bit too close to the boundary or misjudged the size of the lot you placed. :lol:

Playing different "stories" helps me keep things fresh. But I know it won't always be the case. TS4 is funny. It did a lot of things right especially after TS3 but ... It does feel kind of bland at times especially after all these years and DLC.

I don't regret buying it all I really don't. I've had lots of great times with TS4. I just have a huge wishlist of things I want in the game.