"sims2freak737;c-17169855" wrote:
I think development too a step down with the release of Sims 4... Every new pack released has been watered down packs we've seen from Sims 3. I mean take The Sims 2&3 Pets vs The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs. The titles alone indicate less content.
We got an entire pack dedicated to bowling and another entirely devoted to laundry... Both basic things that were added into packs of past Sims games. Bowling would have fit perfectly with Get Together and laundry with Parenthood.
The Sims 4 focuses on shallow gameplay and they need to add more depth.
I agree that EA is more and more nickel and dime-ing Simmers to death with the way that they slice and dice up content into separate packs. On balance, TS3 was probably the most expensive of the games if you used the store, but TS4 is definitely getting up there to rival TS3 for cost.
That being said, I don’t believe we have less content or gameplay in TS4 than we have had in previous iterations of the series (after 5 years). If you did a comparison of TS4 packs you would find the same amount of objects and CAS as in the packs of previous games, for instance.
Similar content is also delivered very differently now, and often expanded. Maybe laundry would have been better with Parenthood, I don’t know, but I thought that pack, its new traits and family gameplay, was well done and I also like that laundry is tied into the sims’ emotions and lifestyle, and not a half-baked object as part of another pack (which it could have been). It was also voted on by Simmers as part of a new collaborative process and was the majority pick (not for me — I wanted Off the grid living), so we just had to accept it in an SP.
Lots of things are just done differently now than in the past games. I was talking to a Simmer recently who was complaining about TS4 seasons and pointing out that it was missing cute and quirky things like the ability of sims to catch fireflies in a bottle from TS2’s original Seasons. True, but we got insects, animated in the world, and the ability to catch them with OR. With them came the whole new skill of Herbalism with a reward trait and associated gameplay. We also got tents, campfires, coolers and camping in OR — (some of these elements didn’t originally come along until Bon Voyage in TS2).
Some things that were merely useable objects or location-based activities in previous games are now more developed in TS4. Yes bowling has its own pack, but with previous games it was an object-related activity that would just give fun and social, but it didn’t last long (at least in TS3) before sims would wander off to do something else. In Sims 4 it is a new skill and playing a game affects emotions. In addition, the developers patched in the ability of sims to socialize while waiting their turn, and GT’s club system allows bowling leagues and sustained bowling (of which I have several in my game) so now it is fun and worthwhile. A sim can go to a lot and a dedicated league will be there bowling away. It is more immersive as an activity than ever.
The same could be said of restaurants (a date activity in TS2 and lackluster rabbit holes and a broken store set in TS3), which now have their own pack and tons of gameplay. They are favourite date sites for my sims and also fun to own and run (I also like running the Bakeries from GTW). Spas, formerly a rabbithole in TS3, are opened up in Spa Day and now have yoga classes, meditation, the Wellness skill, saunas and massages (which in Bon Voyage were mostly associated with vacations).
Sometimes I feel that comparing the packs of TS4 to earlier versions is a little like comparing apples and oranges because the content is often changed or delivered very differently now. As I said, I do agree that the game has gotten more expensive, but I really don’t understand the complaint that I often read around here that there is little or less gameplay in TS4. The comparisons are endless, but often feel (to me) incomplete.
I also think that we have had a lot more free stuff and free improvements to the base game in TS4, which is somehow always forgotten. TS1 only gave out free objects (a few); TS3 was a little better because it gave out a free world— Riverview— and some store sets and clothes associated with holidays during its lifetime.
In contrast to every other Sims game, TS4 has kept adding to the basegame. Yes, some elements (like toddlers, pools and ghosts, the terrain tools, basements etc) should always have been included— but when they were finally added they were very well done.
As well, TS4 has had challenges, like the Plant sim and Growfruit ones, added collections like Easter eggs and the Day of the Dead, added many objects and CAS associated with holidays, added new recipes, new careers (Freelancer and Style Influencer), 1st person camera (great for swimming and snorkeling in Sulani), gender customization and Pride stuff, and best of all —Lot traits (like OTG), which come with new fun ways to play. They have also used patches to improve existing skills like gardening and fishing till they are among the best in the series.
Arguably if you are buying just the basegame now, on sale or not, you are getting much more content and a much better game, than if you bought it at an earlier point in the game’s roll out. And previous basegames were not improved this much during their lifetimes. It’s not just because the original game was lacking; some of these improvements have been responsive to players’ demands (toddlers and terrain tools).
