Missing the magic ingredient?
I can’t seem to stick to the same save/Sims. I have a lot of fun making characters, redecorating houses, starting a game (usually all excited too). I’ve played Sims in most neighbourhoods and in m...
Forum Discussion
The best advice I could give is slow it down.
Not only literally (slowing down time with MCCC, super long lifespan or aging off), but in gameplay aswell. With more time on your hands, you don't play to have rich top of their career sims, you play for the little things.
ZOOM IN ! Stop watching the action from afar, get in your sims' face and enjoy ambient sounds.
Find tiny ways to make sims stand out/more real. Let them pick hobbies with no further goal of money, just for the sake of it. Maybe that painter sim is trying to find their own style, so instead of clicking random painting categories, you try to stick to one that particular sim would paint. Most skills could become hobbies on their own. One my teen sims was really into photography and one wall of her room was covered in pictures taken over (real life) months of gameplay. She met a lot of people through it.
Don't focus on skilling or getting promotions. Once I've found a (ideally low) career rank that fit my sim, I lock them into it with MCCC. Their job is that one rank, not the entire career, if one sim is a paralegal, then they're a paralegal, there's no miraculously getting promoted to judge.
I also don't magicaly sell things in the inventory, so money stays relevant. I have to stick to a budget, it's a lot more interesting.
Pay special attention to the environment you play in. Turn your houses into homes, go for lived-in rather than picture perfect. If your sim work from home, don't treat tasks like a checklist to complete without a thought, make it an event. I have a few lots built for work at home careers like conservationist, to enhance gameplay. Work at home doesn't have to mean never leave your house.
Make community lots interesting visually and thematically ! I.E UBrite commons, but remade as a café-théâtre. If you like the set you play in, gameplay feels ... more.
Think about what would be interesting and meaningful rather than "easy", and set it up. Tired of your sims baking their own wedding cake when some don't even like to cook ? Have a sim with the Fresh Chef trait bake all kinds available, and put them for sale in a cute wedding themed retail shop. Now picking a cake for the wedding is more eventful than cooking pasta.
If you play rotationally, try to get the families linked one way or another. Maybe they're friends and they hang out together, or they're coworkers and they hate each other, maybe their kids have playdates.
I have a club for all teens from households I play, they don't all know each other but sometimes one of them will throw a huge party and I'll watch them develop friendships on their own. Actually I make clubs for everything, like siblings/cousins in different households getting together to play cards, former roommates that try to awkwardly keep in touch, or children having make-believe adventures.
Even rotationally not two households of mine play alike, be it by their hobbies, budget, lifestyle, jobs, schedule, or goals in life. When I'm bored with one, I just switch to a different family, because maybe I didn't want to play the lone grumpy author with 3 dogs in a lighthouse today, but next week he'll be exactly what calls to me.
Not only literally (slowing down time with MCCC, super long lifespan or aging off), but in gameplay aswell. With more time on your hands, you don't play to have rich top of their career sims, you play for the little things.
ZOOM IN ! Stop watching the action from afar, get in your sims' face and enjoy ambient sounds.
Find tiny ways to make sims stand out/more real. Let them pick hobbies with no further goal of money, just for the sake of it. Maybe that painter sim is trying to find their own style, so instead of clicking random painting categories, you try to stick to one that particular sim would paint. Most skills could become hobbies on their own. One my teen sims was really into photography and one wall of her room was covered in pictures taken over (real life) months of gameplay. She met a lot of people through it.
Don't focus on skilling or getting promotions. Once I've found a (ideally low) career rank that fit my sim, I lock them into it with MCCC. Their job is that one rank, not the entire career, if one sim is a paralegal, then they're a paralegal, there's no miraculously getting promoted to judge.
I also don't magicaly sell things in the inventory, so money stays relevant. I have to stick to a budget, it's a lot more interesting.
Pay special attention to the environment you play in. Turn your houses into homes, go for lived-in rather than picture perfect. If your sim work from home, don't treat tasks like a checklist to complete without a thought, make it an event. I have a few lots built for work at home careers like conservationist, to enhance gameplay. Work at home doesn't have to mean never leave your house.
Make community lots interesting visually and thematically ! I.E UBrite commons, but remade as a café-théâtre. If you like the set you play in, gameplay feels ... more.
Think about what would be interesting and meaningful rather than "easy", and set it up. Tired of your sims baking their own wedding cake when some don't even like to cook ? Have a sim with the Fresh Chef trait bake all kinds available, and put them for sale in a cute wedding themed retail shop. Now picking a cake for the wedding is more eventful than cooking pasta.
If you play rotationally, try to get the families linked one way or another. Maybe they're friends and they hang out together, or they're coworkers and they hate each other, maybe their kids have playdates.
I have a club for all teens from households I play, they don't all know each other but sometimes one of them will throw a huge party and I'll watch them develop friendships on their own. Actually I make clubs for everything, like siblings/cousins in different households getting together to play cards, former roommates that try to awkwardly keep in touch, or children having make-believe adventures.
Even rotationally not two households of mine play alike, be it by their hobbies, budget, lifestyle, jobs, schedule, or goals in life. When I'm bored with one, I just switch to a different family, because maybe I didn't want to play the lone grumpy author with 3 dogs in a lighthouse today, but next week he'll be exactly what calls to me.
