Lack of Long-term gameplay in TS4
This video from Carl's Sims 4 guides explains the topic very well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk06dk_G8bI It is very true that there isn't really much to do with your money besides build a...
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The thing is, there's no real conflict. No consequences. No real motivation.
The Sims have no real personalities, so they get along with everyone, will do everything, and don't care about anything.
You can set an aspiration for the Sim, completely ignore it, and they won't care at all. In The Sims 2, if I ignore my sim's wants and aspiration, or if they have their worst fears come true, they'll end up a depressed little pixel person having a mental breakdown on the floor. And that is AWESOME.
But in The Sims 4, they don't actually want anything. They don't fear anything. There's nothing to really motivate you to explore the Sims and their personalities. The traits are often one-dimensional, the aspirations are super linear. I actually really dislike having all of the tiered, small goals - I'd rather have a fortune Sim who wants to be super rich, and then I can get them there in a number of different ways... not by placing x amounts of columns in their house.
It is a simulation game - the characters should therefore be simulated. You set it up, press play, and see what happens. Not constantly try to make things happen with little to no input from the characters themselves.
We have the emotions system... okay, but, what fun is that if every sim has basically the same emotional response to events that happen in the game? And why is Nancy Landgraab diving in dumpsters? The game makes no sense, the characters have no depth, they are constantly performing actions that make no sense for their "character".
Yes, story progression would help. But I truly believe that the lack of individual personality, wants, fears, interests and consequences is the core issue of the game.
The Sims have no real personalities, so they get along with everyone, will do everything, and don't care about anything.
You can set an aspiration for the Sim, completely ignore it, and they won't care at all. In The Sims 2, if I ignore my sim's wants and aspiration, or if they have their worst fears come true, they'll end up a depressed little pixel person having a mental breakdown on the floor. And that is AWESOME.
But in The Sims 4, they don't actually want anything. They don't fear anything. There's nothing to really motivate you to explore the Sims and their personalities. The traits are often one-dimensional, the aspirations are super linear. I actually really dislike having all of the tiered, small goals - I'd rather have a fortune Sim who wants to be super rich, and then I can get them there in a number of different ways... not by placing x amounts of columns in their house.
It is a simulation game - the characters should therefore be simulated. You set it up, press play, and see what happens. Not constantly try to make things happen with little to no input from the characters themselves.
We have the emotions system... okay, but, what fun is that if every sim has basically the same emotional response to events that happen in the game? And why is Nancy Landgraab diving in dumpsters? The game makes no sense, the characters have no depth, they are constantly performing actions that make no sense for their "character".
Yes, story progression would help. But I truly believe that the lack of individual personality, wants, fears, interests and consequences is the core issue of the game.
