With all the attention around seasons and it’s features, one of them involves said weather and world changes happening naturally, automatically, progression of the sort. The same can be said for the general feature in base game involving sims aging naturally, as time passes, people grow older, get jobs, some form relationships (its rare but some can form relationships with random and or neighboring sims) and get as close to story progression as one sim can before it bows out. The software is there and with seasons being so immersive, does that mean story progression is bound to follow soon after as what is seasons if only one household enjoys the environmental changes with each passing month!? I’m not going to say “how hard it is to add two extra steps to the sims? Just enable them to get married and have kids!” Because game design and the like is very difficult and it’s ridiculous to say it’s not. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t ask the question “what about story progression?” Where is it? Why do we have half of it? Why can we age, get jobs, have relationships but not go all the way and get married and start a family? Why do we only receive half of a feature we should’ve had from the beginning? With seasons I’m hopeful this means they’ll look at the big behind the scenes feature and get everyone together to say “we need story progressions because how can simmers games be immersive if they can’t go down the street and see neighbouring homes playing in the sun or running in the snow? Why have we made seasons with all these holidays if only the players household can interact with it when it should be all the sims interacting” EA are finally listening to us so why not use seasons as a microphone to hype up story progression? Whether it’s now, next week, next month, next year, we could get story progression and have our games be a little more realistic. Just imagine your household grows up and expands, your sims daughters left home and met this cute guy and your son from another marriage has already popped the question to their partner and they’re having triplets! We could have that, and I’m hoping seasons brings us the ability to have that. Tell me what you think seasons will bring apart of new weather. What you do think it’ll open us up to for the future?

Well I hope you get the option but I also seriously hope it can be turned off. Nothing annoyed me more in ts3 than when the game tampered with my households(usually by moving them out or killing a sim off). One of my Sims daughters getting married and having kids with out my say so would be grounds for abandoning a save for me. :| I still support having the option for those who want it though. As long as it is exactly that, an option.

I hope not if they add forced story progression on my Sims that's when I quit playing and toggles seem to hard for them to do.

Story progression is my favourite feature in The Sims history. Because TS4 doesn't have real story progression the game feels empty and shallow to me.And before someone says it: Yes there are mods for that, we all know it.

"BeJaWa;c-16507195" wrote:Well I hope you get the option but I also seriously hope it can be turned off. Nothing annoyed me more in ts3 than when the game tampered with my households(usually by moving them out or killing a sim off). One of my Sims daughters getting married and having kids with out my say so would be grounds for abandoning a save for me. :| I still support having the option for those who want it though. As long as it is exactly that, an option.It would be an option. I’m not saying “WE NEED STORY PROGRESSION WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT” I just mean, have it as an option. Fully respect those who don’t want it because back in sims 3, as much as I loved the ability to leave a house for so long and come back to a whole new generation created by the games match making, it was also a bit of a pain if it meant I couldn’t marry a specific sim off to one of mine without there being some friction. Introduce it as an option which can be turned off or filtered in some way, like a sim can do so much without your say so but they can’t go passed said point. Just give simmers who want it, that ability.

"ItsJanier;c-16507234" wrote:Story progression is my favourite feature in The Sims history. Because TS4 doesn't have real story progression the game feels empty and shallow to me.And before someone says it: Yes there are mods for that, we all know it. Mods aren’t the be all and end all for everybody. That’s the issue for vanilla simmers who can’t use them, don’t want to and so on. Don’t get me wrong, the mod creators go harder than the actual creators of sims which is amazing but it doesn’t solve the problem. Not everyone can rely on mods, or just don’t wanna have to which is understandable. Story progression needs to be added via an update, whether it’s now or later, but eventually EA need to accept it’s a vital part of sims

Does Seasons mark the beginning of story progression?

LiELF
Seasoned Ace
7 years ago
"peeangg;c-16515605" wrote:
"IceyJ;c-16509328" wrote:
"peeangg;c-16507965" wrote:
I don't really see a problem with forced story progression. Relationships are pretty easy to build up and break down in every sims game. Plus there's the manage worlds option which lets you do it yourself if you don't want the game doing it for you and there's a cheat relationships option if you shift click a sim. I don't see much of a downside to it either. I know there's people who micromanage every part of their sims life and story, but I think they're a small, vocal minority as most people probably play this as a video game more than a story telling device. IMO lack of story progression is not a feature, it's a flaw, it's going backwards. They should've improved upon story progression rather than get rid of it completely like they did with a lot of other things.

I just want them to add story progression. I'd like it if they added it in even if forced. The people who don't want it can just erase the relationships they don't like with cheats and add the ones they'd like and if they have aging off they'd have enough time. Sims have always done things we don't want them to do and it's always only been a minor inconvenience. I just see it as an extension of autonomy/free will, which is also a vital part of gameplay to me.

Toggles would be ideal. I'm optimistic and I could see them pulling it off even if everyone thinks they'd fail at implementing them. MCCC has really good options for it, I wish there was something like it in vanilla, but testingcheats does let you do a lot of things.

Who wants to spend all of their game time constantly fixing and adjusting the effects of story progression? No way. If we get story progression, it must come with multiple options to choose how it affects played and non-played families. It shouldn't be forced on anyone who doesn't want it.

Well I'm kinda on the other end of the spectrum and I'm stuck manually doing story progression. I still don't see it being forced as a big deal. Not 100% sure, but I think that most players only stick to 1 to a few households rather than planning out elaborate storylines for all sims in their game. If I'm right about this, then I think most players would benefit from it and it would make towns feel livelier.

I don't like having to plan out the lives of 200 sims and would rather have them make their own decisions. Also 3's story progression wasn't as chaotic as people are making it seem. In fact, sims barely moved or had children so it was pretty easy to undo and if we had it in 3, then I don't see why it was missing in 4.

But whatever. My point is, the lack of story progression is not a feature or a good thing. This game should've came with the story progression as an option like it was in 3. However, I don't see it as the end of the world if it was forced. Now that I see many of you disagree I now know that there really does need to be toggles lol, but for me personally, I just want story progression, toggles or not. I can see how it'd annoy people, but overall even if it was forced I think the majority would be happy to see its return.

I think you're looking at it too much through the goggles of Sims 3. That game needed story progression because it chained people to one household. The design made sense. But Sims 4 brought back rotational play as a design choice. As a result of this, most of the new players and many old alike, will have multiple households. At nearly four years into Sims 4, forcing story progression on anyone would cause an apocalyptic outrage. Definitely not a good idea.

So okay, say they decide to do it for unplayed households only. That's all well and good until you start considering what kind of lifestyles the devs will choose. With the way they choose what's trending, story progression will no doubt ignore any particular gender rules. So what happens when you have conservative players seeing a female towny their male Sim was dating suddenly shack up with another female? Doesn't that trod on the "you rule" slogan? Or how about someone who prefers same sex relationships who had all of their Sims coupled to their preference suddenly plaguing their game with nuclear families? And with the CAS gender fluidity, how will that affect who hooks up, who has children, and who stays single? What if someone decided to have single parent townies and the game starts marrying them off? You keep saying how "easy" it is to undo all of this with cheats, but someone who has set up their world to suit their own personal preferences will have their game completely disrupted. Especially, especially if it's forced. Because then we're talking about it happening every single time they play.

So I stand firm on no story progression without, at the very least, an on/off toggle. But the default should remain off. And honestly, I'd dread the bugs that would not only come along with it, but surface every month on patch day.
0_lola_lola_1
7 years ago
For all the comments I have read in this thread I can frimly say that, we all agree that we all want optional story progression in pur game.
There are two types of players;
1) one who has everything on control and does not want the game to mess it
2) one who does not want to have everythin and everyone controlled but want them to progress intheir lifes according to their personalities and live style and what thwy have lived in the past so to say and evolve while you make your own household evolve, so they can all interac in one world, which is at the end what the initial idea they sold to us.

I for example would love story progresaion option and would have it on, and would love to see my sims friends make thwir own choices, decide if to go gay, adop, live alone, make a big family, be reaponsible, clean or messy ..... make them appear real and alive rather than puppets
Godleyjeans
Newcomer
7 years ago
As the creator of this thread I would advise commenters and readers to appreciate and admire the differences of choice and desire regarding those who do and do not want Story Progression.

This thread was made to not only catch gurus and developers attention but to bring together everyone to engage and discuss as to why we should and should not have said feature make a return.

The reason I pop my head out of the leaf pile is because I’ve noticed a few commenters who aren’t really following the flow which could lead to disruption and the inevitable arrival of staff to either clear up some mess or close this thread completely.

All I want to say is keep this discussion nice, respect each other, respect the topic and accept as well as understand that everyone holds a difference of opinion, some strong, some minor, some between the two.

You don’t have to like the idea and agree, nor do you have to not enjoy the idea and disagree, your opinion is yours and it matters here.

So I’m going to go now and prepare to fight Daddy—whoops I mean-ahem—Father Winter, and leave you all to it.

Again, respect differing opinions and avoid turning the thermostat too hire because like our sims, we crisp easily on a hot day.
Best wishes, everyone and don’t worry, I’ll be back soon with presents!
Cinebar
7 years ago
"Luuciia1;c-16575458" wrote:
But what i mean with story progression, is that I hate having to go to my sims household friends to find that they are nearly in old age and none of them have even started a romantic relationship, nor married, nor had a baby and i have to edit them all over so that some of them have children or even a relationship. What I hate even more is having to stay with them for a bit to skill their babies abilities or to educate their child or adolescent in any way, because they do nothing.
I mean there cant be any type of story progression when you put in the world an adult sim with their child in the world and when you enter the household when the child is old the relationship they have is always neutral, never a bad one nor a good one, just neutral.
It makes me sooo sad !

Sims/Non played townies are culled every Sunday in your game. And you may see a flood of teens or kids or elderly spawned. That was my experience so I have no idea why others would want more story progression. I mean didn't we just go through a hundred page thread a few years ago to tell Maxis to stop culling/deleting/removing/ changing the non played Sims and townies and allow players to at least keep their homeless townie friends? I mean have you seen their outfits, don't we go through a thread almost daily about their weird outfits at the most improper times? Story Progression of TS3 sort would only add more to those sort of complaints. ETA: I don't know about others but most of my non played Sims if I loaded to check on them were having affairs, had relationships with family or had friends and had some skills I didn't give them, even my own Sims when I would visit them gained skills while I (my Sim) was there visiting them. The problem was the culling and when we finally got them to correct some of it, it was horrible!, some want it back...o.k. I guess.
Cinebar
7 years ago
"Luuciia1;c-16576766" wrote:
"Cinebar;c-16576759" wrote:
"Luuciia1;c-16575458" wrote:
But what i mean with story progression, is that I hate having to go to my sims household friends to find that they are nearly in old age and none of them have even started a romantic relationship, nor married, nor had a baby and i have to edit them all over so that some of them have children or even a relationship. What I hate even more is having to stay with them for a bit to skill their babies abilities or to educate their child or adolescent in any way, because they do nothing.
I mean there cant be any type of story progression when you put in the world an adult sim with their child in the world and when you enter the household when the child is old the relationship they have is always neutral, never a bad one nor a good one, just neutral.
It makes me sooo sad !

Sims/Non played townies are culled every Sunday in your game. And you may see a flood of teens or kids or elderly spawned. That was my experience so I have no idea why others would want more story progression. I mean didn't we just go through a hundred page thread a few years ago to tell Maxis to stop culling/deleting/removing/ changing the non played Sims and townies and allow players to at least keep their homeless townie friends? I mean have you seen their outfits, don't we go through a thread almost daily about their weird outfits at the most improper times? Story Progression of TS3 sort would only add more to those sort of complaints.

I, myself, for example when I ask about adding the possibility to have "story progression" is not about asking them to delete or add more sim variation in the game, but that for example, if lets take a sim who had a bad relationship with her mother and a great with her father and maxed all her social skills as a tennis and a child except for responsibly, when if she wants to marry and have kids or adopt, that they get the appropriate furnish to be able to raise and kid and depending of the combination of skills and upbringing of both parent that they care for their children in the corresponding manner. So at least for me, it would be more of a manner to feel that my sims feel more autonomous, real and with personalities whose life is driven by the past, dreams and current situation.
But this is just how I feel, dont know if you like what I say or you feel represented or not

lol, I had to laugh (not at you) but even our own Sims can't do that, and you expect non played Sims to have that much depth. lol I'm sorry for laughing it's just funny because this game is not that deep and never will be. Let's start with our own, first. ETA: ~~You~~ or OP did not make this a request thread, ~~you~~ asked if Seasons was a hint at story progression, and no it isn't.

Even TS3's SP didn't do that. Sims didn't get a job but grew up next door and still didn't have a job...that's why there is a big mod to correct even TS3's SP. What it did do is move in (with your Sims) and move out Sims just like we had before they fixed some of the culling in this game.

ETA: I was a bit harsh, of course those are wonderful ideas I would like it, however, SP doesn't do that. What it does is make believe other Sims have lives. They add a baby or child it grows up and may move in with one of your Sims when you aren't playing them or into a house with other non played Sims or be deleted (move away) in TS3. They don't see SP like we do, and never will. It was just a fancy move in/move out system. Add a Sim/delete a Sim system.
Cinebar
7 years ago
"Jordan061102;c-16576776" wrote:
"MidnightAura;c-16575236" wrote:
I agree with @Cinebar. There is already forms of story prepgression in game. I would not want SP in the sims 4. If the player rules, let them rule. Since toggles aren’t the sims 4 friends if it were implemented I don’t think they would include the ability to turn it off.

I'm sure they could.

The point would be would they want to? They did not add a toggle to turn off vampires did they? They did in TS3. Do you know why (in my opinion) because it would have hurt the integrity of that GP. And I agree with that. The thread about that outrage of even saying they would get rid of them for some showed where it hurt the actual gameplay of that GP. Glad they didn't listen that time.

You can't turn off SP in TS4 because it culls Sims every Sunday and the performance of this game depends on how many relationships are left in the panel, if too many someone has to go and it may be a Sim you wanted to keep. However, it's set up differently than TS3's spawn a Sim system. A great deal many have to be culled every Sunday or the game implodes. SP is part of that process. ETA: Those who play with the mod have a better machine than the average laptop. They don't cull anyone, however, this affects performance greatly so they have to weigh it for low end machines. I don't see it happening since spawning and culling work differently on a schedule in this game and not by the need of a townie or NPC for a position etc. There is a population limit. TS2 and TS3 don't have those limits like TS4>some townie dies, the system replaces it in those games. This game...delete X amount and spawn X amount for no apparent reasons other than a schedule and to help performance. ETA: TS2's rumored amount is 5,000 never confirmed with over 500 character files of townies to spawn. (included in base and all EPs). TS4 has a limit of around 300 Sims per game. But it will cull even if not close to that limit. SP would be affected by the culling.
janyses
New Observer
7 years ago
"Cinebar;c-16576783" wrote:
"Jordan061102;c-16576776" wrote:
"MidnightAura;c-16575236" wrote:
I agree with @Cinebar. There is already forms of story prepgression in game. I would not want SP in the sims 4. If the player rules, let them rule. Since toggles aren’t the sims 4 friends if it were implemented I don’t think they would include the ability to turn it off.

I'm sure they could.

The point would be would they want to? They did not add a toggle to turn off vampires did they? They did in TS3. Do you know why (in my opinion) because it would have hurt the integrity of that GP. And I agree with that. The thread about that outrage of even saying they would get rid of them for some showed where it hurt the actual gameplay of that GP. Glad they didn't listen that time.

You can't turn off SP in TS4 because it culls Sims every Sunday and the performance of this game depends on how many relationships are left in the panel, if too many someone has to go and it may be a Sim you wanted to keep. However, it's set up differently than TS3's spawn a Sim system. A great deal many have to be culled every Sunday or the game implodes. SP is part of that process. ETA: Those who play with the mod have a better machine than the average laptop. They don't cull anyone, however, this affects performance greatly so they have to weigh it for low end machines. I don't see it happening since spawning and culling work differently on a schedule in this game and not by the need of a townie or NPC for a position etc. There is a population limit. TS2 and TS3 don't have those limits like TS4>some townie dies, the system replaces it in those games. This game...delete X amount and spawn X amount for no apparent reasons other than a schedule and to help performance. ETA: TS2's rumored amount is 5,000 never confirmed with over 500 character files of townies to spawn. (included in base and all EPs). TS4 has a limit of around 300 Sims per game. But it will cull even if not close to that limit. SP would be affected by the culling.

There's no comparison. Vampires was a separate optional pack. If we get story progression, it's coming as a patch. They absolutely would add toggles to turn it off/on. We also have the option to disable culling, so I disagree that SP can't be turned off. Grant has said they have looked into SP and I'm sure they know that many do not want it so my only hope is that they do a good job of adding options to keep it optional.
LatinaBunny
New Spectator
7 years ago
One of the gurus tweeted about considering about doing something like “World Stories”, when they were asked about Story Progression. I think it may have been Grant?

I am pretty confident that they would allow toggles or options for SP, if they ever introduced it. They gave us some limited options with Seasons, so maybe they can give us some options in SP.
alan650
New Spectator
7 years ago
As somebody who jumps around with tons of households I hope that story progression doesn't become a thing. I never liked it in in The Sims 3 because all it would do is add random babies to different households and it wasn't intuitive at all.
Cinebar
7 years ago
"IceyJ;c-16576876" wrote:
"Cinebar;c-16576783" wrote:
"Jordan061102;c-16576776" wrote:
"MidnightAura;c-16575236" wrote:
I agree with @Cinebar. There is already forms of story prepgression in game. I would not want SP in the sims 4. If the player rules, let them rule. Since toggles aren’t the sims 4 friends if it were implemented I don’t think they would include the ability to turn it off.

I'm sure they could.

The point would be would they want to? They did not add a toggle to turn off vampires did they? They did in TS3. Do you know why (in my opinion) because it would have hurt the integrity of that GP. And I agree with that. The thread about that outrage of even saying they would get rid of them for some showed where it hurt the actual gameplay of that GP. Glad they didn't listen that time.

You can't turn off SP in TS4 because it culls Sims every Sunday and the performance of this game depends on how many relationships are left in the panel, if too many someone has to go and it may be a Sim you wanted to keep. However, it's set up differently than TS3's spawn a Sim system. A great deal many have to be culled every Sunday or the game implodes. SP is part of that process. ETA: Those who play with the mod have a better machine than the average laptop. They don't cull anyone, however, this affects performance greatly so they have to weigh it for low end machines. I don't see it happening since spawning and culling work differently on a schedule in this game and not by the need of a townie or NPC for a position etc. There is a population limit. TS2 and TS3 don't have those limits like TS4>some townie dies, the system replaces it in those games. This game...delete X amount and spawn X amount for no apparent reasons other than a schedule and to help performance. ETA: TS2's rumored amount is 5,000 never confirmed with over 500 character files of townies to spawn. (included in base and all EPs). TS4 has a limit of around 300 Sims per game. But it will cull even if not close to that limit. SP would be affected by the culling.

There's no comparison. Vampires was a separate optional pack. If we get story progression, it's coming as a patch. They absolutely would add toggles to turn it off/on. We also have the option to disable culling, so I disagree that SP can't be turned off. Grant has said they have looked into SP and I'm sure they know that many do not want it so my only hope is that they do a good job of adding options to keep it optional.

I must have missed an option to turn off culling. Just how do you guys do that in TS4? I had to manage households myself and delete unwanted Sims in the bin so the ones I wanted to keep in the town didn't get culled if they were not my Sims friends etc. I've not seen a switch.

ETA: As far as adding it to a patch, that is a lot of money and time to change the base game this late in the game. I can see why they added toddlers in a patch, however, patching in SP and turning off culling is something I just don't see happening. It already struggles with performance even for those who have high end pcs. Why add TS3 problems to TS4.