I just kind of feel meh about this generation of the sims. It seems like they have a lot of good ideas but no motivation to implement them in an interesting way. With sims 2 and 3 I feel like the devs were being ambitious like they wanted to test the boundaries of what not only the engine had to offer but what the game itself could offer and in Sims 3 case that huge ambitious goal the team had meant the game might have been too big for its own good, but at least it felt like they were giving there best.
Sims 4 just seems like all effort went into making it pretty. Don't get me wrong sims 4 added some fantastic ideas that were pulled off correctly: improved toddlers (imho the best part of the game), The Gallery, the Create your own holidays, the Get together club system has really grown on me, CAS, Build/Buy. I really don't much care for aesthetics since I find sims 3 sims just as beautiful as Sims 4 sims, though in different ways.
But the previous Sims games I feel were better even with their problems. I just don't find sims 4 engaging. I'm a writer so when I lack the inspiration to write I start up a sims game. Even when I don't have writer's block I'll sometimes still start up a Sims game, and after playing Sims 4 for an hour I feel so drained. I have to try so hard to figure out the personality of my sims. But yesterday I started Sims 3: My sim is a shy, Dramatic, inappropriate, Grumpy, Technophobe. She will autonomously sabotage any piece of technology if I'm not watching her closely she seemed so fleshed out, off the top of my head I don't remember what traits my sims 4 sims without looking her up first. I was ready to write 5 pages and more!
To me, sims 4 sims are just forgettable, I know what she looks like but I dont remember her traits. I know my sims 4 sim wants a pool and a bee box, she also wants to compliment someone, but thats what all my sims want no matter what traits I give them. But my sims 3 sim? She wanted to be a cop, she wanted to make a zombification potion then use it on another sim. She wanted to have a baby girl, she got mad at me when I bought her new husband a TV and then tried to sabotage it in retaliation because her husband wanted that TV. Then se wanted another baby, another girl, Once she had a second baby her plans for ending Hidden Springs via zombies was put on hold so she could take care of Ellie and Emma. Another one of my sims was cowardly, flirty, never nude, perceptive, and a vehicle enthusiast. He lived in a haunted house and fainted about ever 3 seconds, He wanted to be a Private Investigator and he was pretty good at it, flirted with every client he had autonomously. These were all wishes they wanted, some were autonomous behavior but these sims wanted these things.
I just feel in general the sims 4 teams could do better. The sims teams in the past had done better. When sims 3 expansions came out they too were $40.00 (I never got them for full price I always got them at 50% off) but looking back I probably would have paid full price for them, but alas I was a broke high schooler when sims 3 came out. I feel like we are getting less bang for our buck for expansion packs this generation. Out of the 8(?) EP that are out right now, I probably would have happily only paid full price for 2 of them(Get Together and Seasons).
Part of the problem is probably not that Devs are lazy or not attempting their best but likely that EA isn't investing in the sims like they should to make it a great game. EA should invest in the game because I think eventually they'll water down an EP so much that even the die-hard fans of sims 4 will say enough is enough.
I love the sims franchise, I've started playing with the sims 2 when I was in middle school. I just want sims 4 to be the very best it could be, I want this franchise to be the best it could possibly be, and that comes with critiquing.
