"JoAnne65;c-17275936" wrote:
"darrenfroggy;c-17275887" wrote:
@Felicity It's less the specific use of "think critically" as "focus on everything that's wrong". It's more that there's a level of peer pressure to not just consume media presented to us without questioning it (which is fine in itself) and some people take it to the extreme and look for perfection. Critical thinking is perfectly fine and understandable - say, a movie that romanticizes abuse definitely shouldn't just be watched and accepted as something perfectly normal - but, especially on social media, there's frequently a push to make things perfect to the point where sometimes things get pushed into the "problematic" zone without a valid reason.
To me, some of the criticism I see about TS4 falls into the category of "reaching" (not anyone's specific criticism and by far not all of it). It can get to the point where everything is proof that the game is bad, even things that are simply not enjoyable to someone.
@JoAnne65 For the sake of everyone who is missing the gameplay elements that Carl (and others) mentioned, I really hope the devs will take a hard look at it and work on them. (full disclosure: I don't think they're unaware and I think it's a bit more complicated than "the devs don't care", considering the history of TS4)
If that's not possible, then hopefully TS5 will come and be able to implement all the aspects that players enjoy, from gameplay through CAS and build features and mechanics, all the way to the option of micromanaging and storytelling. For me personally, the big thing about the next game would be options. Being able to set up the game to what each person wants, being able to carry those settings over, maybe having core setups to choose from when starting a new game.
I do enjoy the game's mechanics now, more than I find the need for them to change, but I do understand that they're not for everyone (and I really dislike anyone who tells others what they should enjoy, on both extremes of the spectrum). I might not want to play the game as a challenge all the time but it should have that option for those who do.
I'm a hopeful person by nature, sometimes to my detriment, really, but I genuinely think there's still a chance to make those changes happen. What I also hope is that Maxis will do it in a way that doesn't just flip a switch and take away what we have now. (how, I believe, it happened with Vampires after complaints about too much intrusiveness in the other worlds). Granted, it's the easier way to just tweak those things than it is to add a new layer. But both the devs and some of the players need to stop being so terrified of options. There are so many that wouldn't even be that hard on machines but would add so much to gameplay - random events, autonomous occult appearances outside of their worlds, stronger responses to events from the Sims.
So for me it's definitely a case of still having hope because that's how my brain is wired.
(at the same time, I'm genuinely terrified that the next iteration will be Freeplay 2.0, along with microtransactions and tons of pointless decor. Here's hoping that the shuffling of that over to Firemonkeys means that it won't be the case)
(apologies about the rambling and if this doesn't make complete sense. it's been a long day of arguing with trying to get TS4 to even work, thanks to Mac updates :/)
I agree (the bold), but actually that’s where my concern lies where it comes to Sims 4. I definitely have seen them trying to give simmers what they ask for for years now, I have no reason at all to assume they don’t care. There’s no proof of that, on the contrary. But “they can’t” doesn’t make me any more hopeful than “they won’t”.
Indeed, they can’t please everybody, that’s a given. But call me a hopeful person too, I actually think it is possible to develop a Sims like game that will keep different types of players satisfied. There is a reason Sims 2 is considered the pinnacle in general, even though I myself favour Sims 3 I can perfectly understand why. Because that game got the life simulation aspect best and at the end of the day that’s what simmers want. If only they could do that with open world or at least open neighborhoods (larger ones). And CASt... But I’m convinced, even though I complain about closed neighborhoods and a lack of customization abilities, I could perfectly live with that if the sims themselves and the gameplay (basegame mechanics) would be better.
Just to clarify, I think part of the "they can't" is due to TS4's initial setup, which I think is part of why some things are either hard to do or flat out impossible. And well, the issues with that are a whole different discussion (look, I like the game, but I'm aware of its start and how it was supposed to be something else - something that I hope they'll never consider again, thank you very much).
I've got to admit that I do like the worlds the way they are, to a point. I would like if the neighborhoods within the worlds were open, but if there are loading screens between neighbourhoods and worlds (as long as they stay as short as they are, which for me is a "can't get up to grab my drink from 5 feet away" moment lol) then I'd be cool with that.
The way the worlds we have are so varied is a thing I do love a lot. So in terms of that, for the next one: worlds with open neighborhoods and more individual lots would be, for me, the best option.
I think I'm a little afraid of open worlds because of the demand on the systems. Now, I'm not going to wildly wave the flag of "please let this run on 10yo machines" but it would be nice to not *need* a gaming rig to play the game.
They've got 4 versions under the belt now, if they have learned the lesson of "MMO isn't the way", then hopefully they'll know to pick and choose from the best parts of each of them and combine that into something great. Like I said, hopeful person. :)