comparing the sims 4 to sims 3 in content the sims 4 looks almost barren which is why i dont really like the sims 4 as much. it lacks depth and i feel other than san myshonu , delsol valley and sulani (sorry if i butchered the names XD) look great and detailed. but when ever i play the sims 3 i always feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff i can do! i just wanna know other people opinions on this

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.

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

astridentanja
6 years ago
"ClarionOfJoy;c-17309224" wrote:
"Camkat;c-17302527" wrote:
If you look at purely just TS2, TS3 and TS4 base games and what those offer, TS2 wins hands down for the most value for your buck. You got so much stuff with that base game. They've added onto TS4 over the years but it's still half what TS2 was. TS3 was the start of the down slide, still a lot more on offer at the base, but I think it's when they realized they could hold a lot more off and put it into packs and the store. That said though, they actually had a lot of things crammed into the packs to make it worth the $40 asking price. Now it's like they don't even try to put it in a pack. TS2 had simple things (that likely weren't so simple to make) but simple actions that made it more endearing too. Like opening a drawer to get a spoon when cooking. Going to the store and having a shopping basket with shopping appearing to be in it! TS4 everything just poofs in and out of our sims hands and they poof themselves off to work. Even TS2 had them getting in a car or helicopter even to go to work.

TS2 was great, I agree, especially with greater detail of sims behavior and animations but TS3 had a lot of great things going for it as well that was also a lot of value for your buck. I honestly don't think it went downhill during its entire run, even to the last EP, Into the Future. When I first played it, I was wishing that it had the finer details of TS2, but I also realized back then, that it was very ambitious about its open world at a time when the computers didn't have as much power and capacity that it would need to add those finer details.

But the computers out now can handle so much more! I'm really hoping that TS5 will combine everything we love about TS2 and TS3 together: finer details of TS2, with the flexibility and open world of TS3, plus favorites from TS1 and TS4!

PS - I agree with the OP that the Sims 4 looks and feels empty, so not alone at all on that opinion!

While I fully see and appreciate sims in Sims 2 have more personality and animations are more detailed, I still favour Sims 3. Also after playing 2. Because too much detail becomes grinding for me and too much personality can block my own imagination. I don’t like no personality, but too much of it, that’s also not my cup of tea. I need room to interprete and Sims 3 for me just has the perfect balance in that respect somehow.

Plus CASt plus open world for me are essential features to enjoy the game as well, I felt a bit limited, caged, when playing Sims 2. We just all have our own personal reasons to favour one over the other. Someone once explained to me Sims 3 for her in fact was too open, she preferred the ‘cage’ where for me it’s a downside.
RavensaraDreams
6 years ago
I waited a long time to put in money towards Sims4, after I played the trial and found it disappointing. I finally did this month and the verdict is negative. Yes, it is bleak, barren and very restrictive in many ways. Place a house in the world on a lot of your size choice? Nope.
Rotate or resize a lot in their restricted pre chosen build slot? Nope!
Add additional houses or building spaces to fill out the population with sims you want to interact with? Nope.

I was really looking forward to the new 'World' when I picked up the vampire pack on sale. What I got were a few houses and a bleak empty park with a couple of chess tables. No interactive graves, no Grim... no nothing. It was not even worth the sale price.

So, I thought I would pay for an actual expansion.... island living. Small restrictive town, same resizing restrictions to available lots. Few interesting to No interesting sims and becoming a mermaid had 0 depth. Go explore a cave find some kelp, end of story. Least they could have done was have a mermaid friend drag you under the water and impose an offer of change, but Nope, despite the animation already existing. Laughably, some of the dolphin interactions happen in water so shallow that most of the dolphin is below the sand. Ruins any sense of immersion for games based in this day and age.

My instinct on this game was to not waste the money and for years I stuck with Sims3 and I even have a great deal of Sims2. Those older games could have used 'some' of the qualities that Sims4 has, but sadly, Sims4 needs a serious injection of the creativity used in it's predecessors. Major need for a more open world for building up your towns 'worlds'.

With Sims4 they lost sight of in depth creativity and went for the quickest path to a dollar payout. Yes, I get they are on an EA determined time table to release content so they get a pay check.... but, this is quality graphics for a Sims game paired with bad execution of minimalist content.

To be clear, I have Jungle Adventure, Get to work, Island living, Cats and Dogs, Seasons, Dine out, Vampires, and some stuff packs. I consider that well invested in trying out the game as a whole, not a half hearted attempt at giving Sims4 a chance. P.S. I am also a modder of other games, as in know what it takes to create 3D models, texture, bump map, etc. It 'is' hard work, difficult at times, even monotonous, especially coding, but then these guys are paid to make a good product and should make every attempt to do so, not let a gaming staple fall apart due to lack of devotion. Lets also mention the keyhole pandering they are doing with a few of the ideas being presented in Sims4, that were a little present in Sims3 but not to this extent.
Cornwallfr
6 years ago
Essentially, five years in, I have more and more the impression of... you know, do like the kids in the sims 4 and playing dolls at the dollhouse. Much like those dolls, TS4 sims do things because they're told to, but don't really feel things. They are content to simply fill their needs and that's all they do. No memories of anything, no real long term goals, pedestrian whims acting as 't's what I wanna do, just because'. I wonder if, at this point, we can talk of a simulation game, or a glorified 'tamagochi', with cool anims and cute graphs.

Imo, Sims 1 sims were already more complex, due to both their genealogy, and their role as 'customers', always telling you how they felt about their home. Sims 2 sims pushed that to the next level with their memories, and also their roles as 'witnesses' when something out of the ordinary happened in their vicinity.

Since then, the live mode has taken a huge slap. Those new sims have no astrologic character, 2 to 4 traits less than TS3 sims (with a much more shallow pool to chose from), no memories, no feel for their home, no real items they naturally feel attracted to, no real long term desire that drives them... making them, in my opinion, the bleakest of them all, on a 18 year long series.
imahulazombie
6 years ago
Deleted
troshalom
6 years ago
"adamzaid;d-968339" wrote:
comparing the sims 4 to sims 3 in content the sims 4 looks almost barren which is why i dont really like the sims 4 as much. it lacks depth and i feel other than san myshonu , delsol valley and sulani (sorry if i butchered the names XD) look great and detailed. but when ever i play the sims 3 i always feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff i can do!

i just wanna know other people opinions on this

I don't get this empty theme that is floating around the forums.

What does FULL look like to you?
astridentanja
6 years ago
"troshalom;c-17320601" wrote:
"adamzaid;d-968339" wrote:
comparing the sims 4 to sims 3 in content the sims 4 looks almost barren which is why i dont really like the sims 4 as much. it lacks depth and i feel other than san myshonu , delsol valley and sulani (sorry if i butchered the names XD) look great and detailed. but when ever i play the sims 3 i always feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff i can do!

i just wanna know other people opinions on this

I don't get this empty theme that is floating around the forums.

What does FULL look like to you?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Olfd34%2BCL.jpg

https://i.redd.it/ltocvkcdku001.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/97/a0/6397a0da84abfb342bb719205c761072.jpg
Cornwallfr
6 years ago
"JoAnne65;c-17321311" wrote:
"troshalom;c-17320601" wrote:
"adamzaid;d-968339" wrote:
comparing the sims 4 to sims 3 in content the sims 4 looks almost barren which is why i dont really like the sims 4 as much. it lacks depth and i feel other than san myshonu , delsol valley and sulani (sorry if i butchered the names XD) look great and detailed. but when ever i play the sims 3 i always feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff i can do!

i just wanna know other people opinions on this

I don't get this empty theme that is floating around the forums.

What does FULL look like to you?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Olfd34%2BCL.jpg

https://i.redd.it/ltocvkcdku001.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/97/a0/6397a0da84abfb342bb719205c761072.jpg

<3
renato007rigin
6 years ago
"JoAnne65;c-17321311" wrote:
"troshalom;c-17320601" wrote:
"adamzaid;d-968339" wrote:
comparing the sims 4 to sims 3 in content the sims 4 looks almost barren which is why i dont really like the sims 4 as much. it lacks depth and i feel other than san myshonu , delsol valley and sulani (sorry if i butchered the names XD) look great and detailed. but when ever i play the sims 3 i always feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff i can do!

i just wanna know other people opinions on this

I don't get this empty theme that is floating around the forums.

What does FULL look like to you?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Olfd34%2BCL.jpg

https://i.redd.it/ltocvkcdku001.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/97/a0/6397a0da84abfb342bb719205c761072.jpg

I missed boxes with discs :disappointed:

Last time I ran to a store was in September 2014. And my feeling after playing TS4 was to burn that box! I dindn't make it because thats stupid but I think you know that feeling Im talking about!
Hoverael
6 years ago
While i can understand the frustration in the lack of progression and depth, something i've been trying to work around the past 1,000 hours now, unfortunately this is what TS4 is. With that stated i run only four mods, one of which is MC. Right now it is very playable, but still i'm going to be looking for other mods that have the desired impact in improving this game some more.
DeKaythePUNK
Seasoned Vanguard
6 years ago
I think the worlds look great but in terms of the UI, it's kinda lacking. I kinda like that cluttered UI look TS2 and TS3 has. XD But maybe it's cuz a lot of the tabs in the TS4 UI is minimized... ? I don't know.