New Scenarios Format

This sounds like an interesting experiment. I'm still not interested in Scenarios, but I'm glad to see that they're innovating and evolving them. They kind of remind me of Sims Life Stories, though I doubt they'd get as crazy as some of those stories.

I've played a few scenarios and enjoyed them. A couple had buggy endings, but I was able to finish them all. These new scenarios sound like more thought was put into the stories. Could be fun to play.

Seems like the sims are trying to get away from the sandbox game and evolve the game towards simmers playing scenarios written by the devs. I enjoyed one or two scenarios but I prefer the sandbox type of gameplay by far. I hope the next patch focuses on fixing the game, not just the scenarios.

I wish it gave us the choice on whether to start in an existing save or a new one.

From the very beginning I have had no interest in scenarios, and I can't help but think they are testing the waters for TS5 to see how well people like playing these types of things. TS5 will probably be a lot like a mobile game, if they go the multiplayer route. That's what they remind me of .... a mobile game, just like the timed Scenarios, why would you need a timed event like that for a single player game unless you're testing to see if it makes people play them and induce FOMO. There's not even a good reward for finishing them. They're just super odd to me.

Idk I feel kind of frustrated about scenarios

like on one hand fomo cause some of them actually sound fun like the alien one and these with premades

but on other hand ive really got endless stories and sims to play with without doing any of these scenario things

idk i just end up pretending they don't exist
cause thats only reaction that makes sense with how many they throw out constantly

like i just don't have enough time on earth to do both my own stories and the scenarios

even less when its time limited like some of the scenarios are

I enjoyed scenarios as a side gig that sometimes would take me out of my comfort zone. But their strength was always that they were mini goals that easily integrated into ongoing stories. For example my first playthrough of Perfectly well rounded featured the Governor visiting my city incognito, posing as a newcomer.

I would have welcomed scenarios to become more complex, like Making money randomly slapping you with an unexpected tax demand or the offer to buy a servo for a hefty price. Them turning into interactive short stories with pre-defined actors is the opposite of what The Sims used to be about.

I also prefer regular play to scenarios. Scenarios are nice for a mini goal-oriented diversion. But in every scenario I played, after finishing, I took the sims from the scenario into ongoing sandbox play. I didn't want to abandon them! For me, the sims themselves are more important than the scenario challenge.

I absolutely loved these scenarios--they are perfect for people like me who aren't imaginative enough to put a well-developed character into an interesting environment. I mostly use whims (well, now wants-and-fears) based gameplay for that reason. I've done the scenarios with Farrah & Nova--I had a fabulous time. I started The Martinez Family, but didn't get very far. My chief complaint going through The Sims 4, and I know I'm not the only one, is that the sims simply don't feel complex or deep--in those two scenarios, they did. The game felt alive again. This should teach me that the game has the capacity to be complex & engaging; I simply need to learn to develop my sims more fully and commit to the stories I want to tell.

"grassharp;c-18177038" wrote:
I absolutely loved these scenarios--they are perfect for people like me who aren't imaginative enough to put a well-developed character into an interesting environment. I mostly use whims (well, now wants-and-fears) based gameplay for that reason. I've done the scenarios with Farrah & Nova--I had a fabulous time. I started The Martinez Family, but didn't get very far. My chief complaint going through The Sims 4, and I know I'm not the only one, is that the sims simply don't feel complex or deep--in those two scenarios, they did. The game felt alive again. This should teach me that the game has the capacity to be complex & engaging; I simply need to learn to develop my sims more fully and commit to the stories I want to tell.

Looks like I was too harsh in dismissing the new format then. I never looked at the combination of scenario and premade family as a storytelling tutorial, but if it worked for you as such, then that's a good thing. I think I'm mainly grumpy because ever since the neighborhood stories it feels as if The Sims team was dialing back sandbox elements in favour of a much more guided experience, as a result taking away from the game's uniqueness.